


Artemis

by laxit21, mewmew666



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: (mostly), Alternate Universe - Canon, Canon Compliant, olicity au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2019-08-26 02:51:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 38
Words: 57,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16673332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laxit21/pseuds/laxit21, https://archiveofourown.org/users/mewmew666/pseuds/mewmew666
Summary: When the Queen's Gambit sank, two people were stranded on Lian Yu. Five years later, four came back.





	1. Chapter 1

**Lian Yu**

A man with a long, scraggly beard and unkempt hair watched from the rocks as a fishing boat neared the island of Lian Yu. This was the first boat to come near the island since he’d been stranded there. This could be his, and the others, one shot to get home. Oliver Queen quickly stabbed his knife into the ground, and used it as a flint to set one of his arrows on fire. Taking aim at pile of wood covered in gasoline, he fired. The entire pile was soon ablaze.

Aboard the fishing boat, one of the fishermen pointed the bonfire out to his colleague. Someone was on that island. They stowed their fish and made way towards the shore. They went aground to find a man in a ratty green sweatshirt and torn pants waiting on the beach. They began to lead him to their boat, but halfway there, the man turned and said something in a language neither fishermen understood.

Rustling came from the trees at the edge of the beach. The two Chinese men prepared for an attack. Instead, a woman a few years younger than Oliver came out of the forest. The woman had long, unkempt hair. It was blonde at the ends but most of it was dark brown. She was holding hands with two little girls who couldn’t be older than 4. One girl had messy dark blonde hair, the other had brunette hair like the woman. All three looked very thin. He turned to the men and asked if they could take all of them. They agreed and led the group of four to the boat.

Once aboard, Oliver and the woman argued about who’d get to make the first phone call. Eventually, she convinced Oliver to go first. He took the satellite phone from one of the fishermen and dialed.

“Mom- mom it’s Oliver.” He paused. “Mom? Mom, please. Just listen to my voice. it’s Oliver. I did not die on the Gambit. I’m alive, I’m okay.” There was a pause. “Yeah mom, its me, just please don’t hang up, I’m okay.” There was another pause as Moira Queen asked him something. “No, no he….he and Sara didn’t make it. The, uh, the QC intern who came with us, the one who was supposed to present at the meeting, Felicity- yeah, Felicity Smoak, she’s- she’s alive too. We’re- I don’t know where we are, but we’re both coming home. I- I need to go, she needs to call her family. I love you so much.” He hung up the phone and handed it to Felicity.

She took a deep breath and dialed. “Mom? Yes, mom, it’s me. It’s Felicity, I’m alive. I- I’ll tell you all about it when I get home, I promise. No I- I’m okay. There was another survivor, we helped each other stay alive. Mom, I gotta go. I’ll see you soon.” She hung up the phone.

“Mommy, who were you and Daddy talking too?” One of the toddlers asked.

“We were talking to our mommies.” She answered. “You’ll meet them soon.”

* * *

 

**Starling City**

“Oliver Queen is alive.” An anchor for Channel 7 announced in a breaking news story. “The Starling City native and an unidentified woman were found by fishermen in the North China Sea five days ago. Five years after he was missing and presumed dead following the accident at sea which claimed the Queen’s Gambit-“

Oliver and Felicity could both hear the news reports from the room across the hall from theirs. They could also make out what Dr. Lamb was telling Moira and Donna.

“20% of his body is covered in scar tissue. 2nd degree burns on his back and arms. X-rays show 12 fractures that never properly healed.” Lamb told Moira. “Felicity has similar wounds, although hers are less severe. They’re both suffering from malnutrition.”

“Has he said anything about what happened?”

“No, both of them have barely said anything. You both need to prepare yourselves. The Oliver and Felicity you lost might not be the ones they found.”

“Why are they sharing a room?” Donna asked.

“They said the only way they’d let the doctors examine them, or the twins, was if they stayed together.”

“Twins?” Moira asked.

“Their daughters. Fraternal twins. According to Felicity, she gave birth roughly 18 months after the accident.” Dr. Lamb said.

The two mothers looked at one another before opening the door and entering the hospital room. Oliver was staring out the window. Felicity wasn’t taking her eyes off the twins.

“Oliver?” Moira said.

“Felicity?” Donna asked.

The two castaways went to embrace their mothers. No one pulled away for several minutes, until one of the twins stirred awake.

“Mommy?” This woke up her sister, who sat up and asked who these two women were.

“Hi, baby.” Felicity said moving over to the bed the girls were sharing. “Donna Smoak, Moira Queen.”

“Hey that’s my middle name.” One of the girls said.

“And that’s mine.” The other twin said.

“I’d like you to meet Sara Moira Queen and Shado Donna Queen.” Felicity continued. She pointed to the blonde twin first, then the brunette twin. “Girls, meet your grandmothers.” Sara waved, while Shado hid behind Felicity. Donna and Moira both looked disappointed. “Sorry, this situation is new and scary for them. I need to go talk to the doctor but I’ll be right outside where you can see me, ok?” The toddlers nodded.

She went outside and talked to Dr. Lamb. Both Sara and Shado were in very good health all things considered. They’d gotten the first round of immunizations, but they’d need to come back in a week for some others. Lamb was more worried about Felicity and Oliver, given their injuries and general health.

“The two of you are suffering from moderate malnutrition.” Lamb pointed out.

“They needed it more than we did.” Felicity said distractedly. “I couldn’t- we didn’t want to watch them starve to death.”

The doctor assumed that was why Oliver and Felicity were malnourished, but now he had confirmation. He wrapped up his conversation with Felicity and recommended all four of them look into therapy options.

“Why Shado?” Moira asked Oliver once Felicity left the room.

“She was a friend of Felicity’s.” He answered. Felicity came back into the room.

“They want to keep the girls and I overnight for observation. What they need to observe, I don’t know, but after the last few years, I can’t say I blame them.”

“They’re keeping me too.” Oliver said.

“Cool.” She then turned to her mom. “Can I borrow your phone? I need to apologize to Uncle Danny.”

“Why?”

“Because all of that ‘survivalist nonsense I’m never gonna use’ turned out to be useful.” She answered.

* * *

 

**North China Sea-2007**

Felicity was sitting in her cabin as she heard the storm move closer. It was starting to sound like the hurricane was right on top of the yacht with every passing second. The blonde doubted anything would happen, she kept telling herself it was just storm, but it still freaked her out. She was checking to make sure her go-bag, which her uncle forced her to take with her, was stocked when the ship capsized. Putting the backpack over her shoulder, she was able to grab a life vest just as her room filled with water.

She hit the water and a few moments later, she felt someone pull her out. She sputtered and saw her boss, Robert Queen, and the captain had pulled her into the raft. A minute or so later, they found Oliver and pulled him aboard.

“I’m so sorry. I thought I’d have more time. I’m not the man you think I am. I didn’t build this city, I failed it.” He told his son. “And I’m sorry for dragging you into this Felicity.”

The next day was a blur. Everyone was hungry, thirsty and exhausted. Around 12 hours after the Gambit sank, Robert realized there was only one way Oliver would make it out of this alive. He killed the captain and then shot himself. Felicity and Oliver drifted for several more days. Finally, they reached Lian Yu.

 When they got out of the raft, Oliver was at a loss about what to do.

“Do I- should I bury him?” he asked her.

“I don’t- I- he’s your father. It’s up to you.” she said. She stood, wiped her hands off on her shorts and looked around. “I’m gonna go take a look around. See what food, water or shelter I can find.” She knew Oliver needed to process what had happened, but they also needed to have a plan until someone found them. They wouldn’t last long with no food, water or shelter.

“What-?“

“It might be a few days before anyone finds us. We need to make it on our own until then.” She told him. “And I’m gonna guess you aren’t a big survivalist.” She’d never been happier that her uncle Daniel used to make her go camping with him.

“And you are?”

“I know a little bit. Stay in this general area. I’ll be back in like twenty minutes.” Felicity didn’t want to explore the whole island, just gauge of where they landed was the best place to wait for a rescue. She returned to the beach to find Oliver gone. She wasn’t surprised he ignored her. Knowing she needed to find him, she tried to follow his tracks and headed further into the woods.

* * *

 

**Starling City-Present**

The next morning, they left the hospital. Thankfully, the hospital had a back entrance so they could avoid the paparazzi. The twins looked warily at the large SUV that Moira had sent, but Felicity assured them everything was okay. The vehicle drove to Queen Mansion and the twins looked up in awe.

They got out of the car, and the driver tried to grab their bags, but Oliver and Felicity got to them first. Moira was in the middle of talking to Oliver and Felicity about room arrangements when the twins saw something move out of the corner of their eyes. They hid behind Felicity. A second later, a brunette teen came running down the stairs.

“Hey, sis.”

“I knew it! I knew you were alive. I missed you so much!” Thea said as she ran to Oliver for a hug.

“You were with me the whole time.” He said as he hugged her. They broke apart and Thea turned to face Felicity.

“You must be Thea. I’m Felicity.”

“Hi.” She said. She didn’t really know what else to say. Then, she noticed the girls. “Who’s this?”

“Thea, we haven’t-“ Moira started to say. She was too in shock last night to tell Thea about the twins. She’d only told Walter earlier that morning.

“My name is Sara. Her name is Shado.” The toddler said, pointing to her sister. She was the more outgoing of the twins, and since Thea was closer to Felicity’s age, she wasn’t as afraid of her. “How do you know my daddy?”

Thea froze, not sure if she’d heard what she thought she’d just heard.

Felicity bent down to the twins’ level. “Girls, this is your Auntie Thea. Daddy is her brother. He told you stories about her. Can you say hi?” Sara said hi, while Shado just waved.

“Why don’t we let you four go upstairs and unpack?” Walter suggested.

Everyone nodded and Moira led them upstairs.

“Can’t believe Ollie’s a father.”

“I can’t believe I got to meet the famous Speedy.” Felicity remarked. The teen groaned.

The group stopped outside of two rooms next to each other.

“I thought the girls might like these rooms.” Moira said. “They’ll be next to each other and there’s plenty of room to play. They can pick which one they want.” The toddlers entered the first room and both announced they wanted this one. “You girls don’t need to share a room. There’s a room just like this one next door one of you can-“

“Mom.” Oliver started to say. He didn’t think trying to separate the twins was a good idea.

“No!” Shado yelled. “Wanna stay with Sara!”

“I wanna be with Shado!”

“Girls, it’s okay.” Moira tried to reason. “You’ll be right next do-“

Both girls started to cry hysterically. Everyone turned to Oliver and Felicity for a clue about what to do. Oliver looked at Felicity, he was never good at keeping the girls calm on the island. The blonde knelt down to their level while rolling her eyes at everyone’s cluelessness.

“Girls, look at me okay? Everything’s ok, there’s nothing to worry about. Sara, do you wanna share a room with Shado?” the blonde three-year-old nodded. “And Shado, do you wanna share with Sara?” the brunette girl nodded. “Ok. But girls, its not nice to yell at your Grandma Moira, okay? She wanted to help and didn’t know you wanted to share.”

“Ok Mommy.” The girls said in unison.

“Now, what do you say?”

“Sorry for yelling.”

“I probably should’ve warned you or something.” Felicity said as they left the room. “Sara and Shado, they don’t like being apart.”

Oliver’s room was exactly the same as when he left, and Felicity was given the room next door. Both Oliver and Felicity were across the hall from Sara and Shado’s room. Everyone dispersed with Moira reminding them dinner was at 6. Felicity turned to Oliver and spoke.

“You’re on kid duty.”

“What? Why-?”

“I haven’t had a hot shower in 5 years. And the shower at the hospital doesn’t count.” She said. “Hong Kong wasn’t fun for you but-“

“I get it. Enjoy.” She left the room. “Girls, you wanna go exploring?” the twins nodded eagerly.

Later that day, Felicity was getting the twins ready for dinner when Oliver came into the room. He was wearing a long-sleeve button down shirt with a sweater over it.

“Daddy looks silly.” Shado said giggling. They had only ever seen Oliver and Felicity in the clothes they wore on the island and the ones they’d been given at the hospital. Oxford shirts and sweaters looked out of place on him.

“Yeah, he does, doesn’t he?”

“You do too, Mommy.” Sara said. Felicity was wearing a light blue dress that fell to her knees. A big change from the t-shirt and cargo pants she wore on Lian Yu.

“Wait, did I- did she just call you Daddy?” a voice called from the doorway.

Oliver smirked, turned and greeted the man. “Tommy Merlyn.”

“What did I tell you? Yachts suck.” He said hugging his friend. “Hi, Tommy Merlyn.”

“Felicity Smoak. Heard a lot about you. This is Sara and Shado.” It got awkwardly quiet. “Let’s go to dinner. I’m hungry.”

The group headed downstairs to the dining room. They entered the room as Sara spoke. “Are we having rabbit for dinner?”

Thea choked on her drink, Tommy gave Oliver a look, and Moira, Walter and Donna all looked heart-broken. “No, baby. We’re having something else.”

Everyone sat and the first course was served. The silence became too much for Tommy, who spoke up.

“Ok, what else did you miss. Super Bowl winners: Giants, Steelers, Saints, Packers, Giants again. Black president, that’s new. Oh, and LOST. They were all dead, I think.”

“What was it like there?” Thea asked. Felicity and Oliver both answered at the same time.

“Cold.”

“Rainy.”

“There were lots of big trees.” Sara and Shado announced. “Bigger than Daddy.”

Tommy and Oliver started to make plans for the next day, and then the truth about Moira and Walter’s relationship came out. Shortly after, Oliver asked to be excused and left. Donna tried to fill in the silence by telling Felicity how things in her life had changed over the last five years.

“Mommy,” Shado spoke up. “why’s Daddy sad?”

“He’s not sad. He’s just- we were on the island for a long time, and while we were there, a lot of things changed here. It’s gonna be hard, for all of us, to get used to not being on the island.” She explained.

Dinner ended soon after and Tommy and Donna left. Thing were quiet for the rest of the night until it was time for Sara and Shado to go to bed. They put on their pajamas and got into bed. Five minutes later, however, the twins snuck into Felicity’s room.

“We wanna sleep with you.” they said looking up at her.

“This place is bigger than our home on the island, huh?” She said and they nodded. “Ok, just for tonight. Tomorrow, you need to sleep in your bed, ok?”

Several hours later, the twins were asleep but the storm outside kept Felicity up. She hadn’t been able to sleep through a thunderstorm since the Gambit went down. She took several deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves when she heard the floor creaking. Leaving to investigate, she saw Moira and Walter slip into Oliver’s room. He was on the floor, by the window, tossing and turning. She walked in right as Moira reached out to touch his arm.

“Oliver, wake up.” she shook him lightly. “Oliv-“

“Don’t.” Felicity said, pulling Moira away but it was too late. He grabbed her arm and flipped her over, thinking he was under attack. Before they could blink, he had an arm at her throat.

“Oliver!” Walter and Moira yelled. Felicity tapped his arm twice and he moved away, scurrying to get as far away from them as possible. He’d attacked Felicity. If she hadn’t stepped in, he would’ve attacked his mother.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s all right. I shouldn’t have tried to wake you up.” Felicity said. “You okay? Seemed like some nightmare.”

He didn’t respond.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver tries to set things right, and someone makes a move to learn what happened on the island. In the past, Felicity searches for Oliver and finds an ally.

**Lian Yu-Five Years Ago**

Felicity spent most of the day trying to follow Oliver’s tracks. When night fell, Felicity climbed one of the shorter trees and took shelter in it. Luckily, her bag had an emergency blanket and could be used as a pillow. She woke up before dawn the next morning and realized how hungry she was. Remembering what her uncle taught her, Felicity was able to identify which berries were safe to eat. As she searched for a sign of Oliver, she nearly ran into a group of masked men. They seemed to be looking for someone and didn’t notice her, so she ran in the other direction.

Several days later, she was still searching for Oliver and was collecting water, thank Google for water filters, when there was suddenly a sword at her throat.

“Who are you? who sent you?” An Australian voice asked.

“No one sent me, I- can you put the sword away please? The boat I was on, it sank and the life raft drifted here. I’ve been exploring the island for days looking for the other survivor.” She answered.

“When? How many days ago”

“Five, I think.”

“You survived here on your own for five days? No offense, but it doesn’t seem likely.”

“My uncle’s an ex-SEAL and a huge survivalist. Who knew all the time he forced me to go camping with him would pay off. I was also lucky enough to have my go-bag with me when the boat sank.” She said. “Felicity Smoak.”

“Slade Wilson.” He said. “Your friend was probably taken by Fyers and his men.”

“You mean the masked guys in the woods? And you aren’t with them?”

“No, I’m not.” he turned to go. “You coming or what?”

Since she was no closer to finding Oliver than five days ago, and she really didn’t want to be all alone anymore, Felicity followed Slade to wherever he was going.

* * *

 

**Starling City-Present**

The day after Oliver’s nightmare, he, Felicity and the twins were up early. They had an early breakfast, and Oliver introduced his daughters to Raisa who they decided they liked because she gave them cookies after they’d eaten breakfast. After talking about it, Felicity and Oliver decided one would take Shado for the day and the other would take Sara. Their reasoning was that the girls needed to become more comfortable being separated and they wouldn’t react badly if they were at least with someone they knew. So, Sara went with Tommy and Oliver to see the city, while Shado stayed with Felicity.

“What did you miss most?” Tommy asked his best friend. “Steaks at the Palm, drinks at the Station,” he looked in the backseat for a second before saying the next thing, “making new, special lady-friends?”

“Laurel.” he answered.

“Everyone is happy you’re alive. You wanna see the one person who isn’t?”

“Why isn’t she happy?” Sara asked from the backseat.

“Because I did a dumb thing before I went to the island, and it hurt her feelings.” Oliver answered as he gave Tommy a look.

The other man sighed but drove to CNRI anyway. He went inside and asked Laurel to take a walk with him. As soon as the pair stepped outside, and Laurel saw Oliver, she tried to turn and leave. “Five years away, and the first person he wanted to see was you. Maybe hear him out.”

Laurel and Oliver started talking. Sara hid half behind Oliver as they spoke, and the lawyer either didn’t seem to notice her or didn’t want to ask. Luckily, she was too young to follow the very grown-up conversation that was going on.

“You don’t get to apologize for what happened to Sara.” Laurel said.

“Hey, that’s my name!” Sara said.

The brunette looked between her and Oliver. The pieces started coming together in her head. Oliver was gone five years, he was found with a woman, the little girl couldn’t be older than four. She scoffed and turned to leave. “I hoped you’d rot in hell a lot longer than five years.”

“She wasn’t very nice.” Sara remarked.

“She’s not mean, she’s just very angry at me right now.”

The trio headed back towards Tommy’s car. They were about to get in when a van pulled up behind them, two men stepped out from behind a corner and shot Oliver and Tommy with knock-out darts. He lost consciousness as one of the men grabbed Sara and another shot a restaurant worker taking out the garbage. He could see Sara kicking the man who grabbed her and trying to bite him. Before he could tell them to leave her alone, he passed out.

When Oliver came to, he was zipcuffed to a chair. Tommy was unconscious on a pallet. He could also hear Sara crying, but couldn’t see her. One of the masked men started talking.

“I ask the questions. You give me the answers. Did your father survive the accident? Did he tell you anything?” He said, holding up a tazer. Oliver didn’t respond, so the man tazed him twice.

“Yes, he did.” Oliver was feeling many things at once. He was angry he’d been kidnapped and was being questioned. He was worried for Tommy’s and more importantly Sara’s safety. He was livid that they’d attacked his child. Sara’s whimpers seemed to echo through the room, making him angrier by the second.

“Good. What did he tell you, Mr. Queen?”

He looked up at the man with an angry expression. “He told me I’m gonna kill you.”

The thugs laughed, taunting him since he was bound to the chair. He used that moment to reveal that he’d broken free of the restraints and attacked the three men. He took two down, but the third fled the building. Oliver checked on Tommy, who’d started to stir, before chasing after him. He saw that Sara was tied up behind Tommy but otherwise unhurt. He caught up to the man and got him in a choke hold.

“What did you do to my daughter?” he growled.

“Nothing. we- she’s a little kid. She kept kicking Mike and trying to bite him, so we had to stop her. We just tied her up.” The mercenary answered. “You don’t have to do this.”

“I do. No one can know my secret.” He said as he snapped the man’s neck. He ran back into the warehouse. By this point, Tommy was mostly lucid and Oliver was able to get both of them free of their restraints.

“What happened?” Tommy asked.

Oliver didn’t answer, looking Sara over. “Are you okay? Where does it hurt?”

“Doesn’t hurt.” She said. “I kicked and bit the mean man so I could get away but they were too strong. I’m sorry.” She started crying. If she was brave, like her mommy, or strong like her daddy, then maybe she could’ve gotten away or helped him try to stop the mean men.

“It’s not your fault. I should’ve stopped them from taking you. I’m sorry.” Oliver assured her. “You were a very brave girl.”

“I was?”

“Yes. So brave.” He told her as he hugged her. “Let’s get out of here.”

 They left the building and headed home. When they got there, Moira insisted they call the police to report the abduction.

“So, that’s your story. A man in a green hood flew in and singlehandedly took out three armed kidnappers.” Detective Lance said skeptically.

“That is what happened. They took us and I tried to fight them but they were too big and took us to this scary, empty place. They had scary red masks and they were mean and kept asking Daddy-” Sara explained excitedly.

“Honey, not so fast. You’re talking too fast for anyone to understand you.” Oliver said. The little girl stopped bouncing up and down.

“Why doesn’t Raisa take her into the kitchen?” Moira suggested. “I think she’s had enough excitement for one day.”

“Come along, Miss Sara. Let’s get you a cookie.” Raisa said taking her hand.

When Lance heard the name ‘Sara’ he shot Oliver a look. The conversation turned to asking Tommy what he saw and Lance theorizing why the men had taken Oliver. The detectives were heading out the door when Felicity came running into the mansion carrying Shado.

“What happened? Where’s Sara? Is she okay?”

“Why are you blonde now?” Tommy inquired.

“She’s in the kitchen with Raisa and she’s fine.” Oliver said.

“I’m sorry, who are you?” Lance asked.

“My name’s Felicity Smoak, I-.”

“Detective Lance, perhaps-.” Walter cut in.

“Lance. I’m so sorry. I didn’t-” Felicity said. She put her daughter down, who ran off to find her sister. “I- I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about Sara.”

Felicity’s identity had only been revealed that morning. She knew what the news reports had said. Oliver Queen and an unidentified woman were found on a remote island in the North China Sea. She knew when Sara’s family heard that, they hoped the unidentified woman was her. If the situation had been reversed, and Sara was the other survivor, Donna would’ve thought the same thing. She knew this was worse, in almost every way possible, than if Oliver had returned alone.

“Thank you.” Quentin said before walking out the door.

Everyone fell into silence and everyone except Oliver left. “It looks good, the blonde.”

“Yeah. I like me better as a blonde.” She shrugged as she headed towards the kitchen. “What really happened?”

“They wanted to know about my dad’s death. Did he say anything? Did he make it to the island? I didn’t tell them anything.”

“I didn’t think you would. Still, it poses a problem. Timeline has to be moved up.” she said.

“Yeah, it does. Starting tonight.” He said. “Oh, and Tommy’s throwing us a back from the dead bash.”

“You mean he’s throwing you one.” She countered as they entered the kitchen. Sara froze when she saw her. “Hey, baby.”

“Not a baby. Why is your hair weird?”

“It’s not weird. It’s just not the same. I wanted to change it.” she explained. “Do you like it?” the twins both nodded. “Me too.” She reached over and hugged her daughters. “I was so scared.”

“Why? You don’t get scared.”

“I do get scared, I just hide it sometimes. I was scared because, I was worried something was gonna happen to you and Daddy. That you two might get hurt.”

“We didn’t. Someone stopped the bad men and Daddy made sure I was okay.” Sara said, trying to reassure her mother.

“They did? Why don’t you tell me all about it?” Felicity asked. She listened to what her daughter had to say, paying close attention to any sign Sara knew what was going on. It seemed like she didn’t. Shado pouted for a while since Sara’s day was better than hers.

That night, Oliver ditched his new bodyguard on the ride into the city and Felicity stayed home with the twins. For right now, only one of them could hit the streets at a time without arousing suspicion. The blonde found herself trying to entertain two very hyperactive toddlers and wishing she could go after Adam Hunt too. She loved her daughters but they were a lot of work.

“Ok, girls. Time for bed.” Felicity said as she led them into their room. The twins looked at each other before turning their faces towards her. “Don’t give me the puppy eyes.”

“They aren’t puppy eyes, Mommy.” Sara said.

“They’re our eyes.” Shado finished. She even made her lip quiver a bit to make her look sadder.

“It’s bedtime.” Their mother reminded them. “We go to sleep at bedtime.”

“Can we sleep in your bed?” Shado asked her.

“Yesterday you promised to sleep in your own room tonight.”

“But Mommy!”

“What if the mean men who took me and Daddy come back?” Sara said in a small voice.

“They won’t come back, honey.” Felicity tried to reassure her. Shado also looked scared at the thought.

“But what if they do?”

“Ok, fine. But tomorrow, you girls stay in your own room. You’re big girls. Big girls don’t sleep in Mommy’s bed.”

“Ok.” the twins said, grinning in unison.

When Oliver came back from dealing with Hunt, he snuck into the twins’ room to check on them. He nearly panicked when he saw they weren’t there, but then he heard the faint sound of Shado’s snores coming from across the hall. He went into Felicity’s room where Sara, Shado and Felicity all laid on Felicity’s bed, sound asleep. He started to sneak out of the room.

“No, Daddy stay.” Sara whispered a little too loudly, which woke Shado and Felicity up.

“Stay. Like on the island.” Shado insisted.

He didn’t know what to do. On the island, they needed to huddle together. it was the only way to stay warm. Here in Starling, they didn’t need to, but it seems the twins still wanted to. He felt weird last night, not sleeping right next to them. there was also the matter of his relationship with Felicity, which they hadn’t talked about since getting rescued. They talked about the twins, and their mission, but not where they stood romantically.

“Let’s move over so he has some room, okay?” Felicity suggested. The girls wiggled over so that Oliver had space next to Felicity with the twins huddled against her. His daughters looked at him impatiently, so he laid down. Right before everyone settled back down, Felicity whispered “we’ll talk tomorrow” to him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the island, Felicity trains. In the present, she tries to reconnect with her mother and everyone tries to adjust to civilized life.

**Lian Yu-Past**

Felicity let out an unladylike grunt as she got hit in the face by Slade’s stick again. She was getting better at fighting, but clearly still had a little bit to go. Since they were trapped on the island, and there wasn’t anything else to do, Slade had started teaching Felicity how to fight. He reasoned that if she could defend herself, he wouldn’t have to worry about her if Fyers’ people showed up. He also didn’t want to get rusty, not that she challenged him that much.

“I’m really starting to hate these damn sticks.” She said as she regrouped.

“Well, I’d teach you how to shoot but the noise-“

“Too bad, that’s something I’m actually good at.” She remarked. “What? You think my uncle would go to all the trouble of teaching me how to survive on my own and not teach me how to use a gun?”

“No, it’s just-“

“I don’t seem the type.” She finished for him.

She didn’t look like a survivalist or someone who knew how to use a firearm. Felicity knew that. Still, every time he witnessed or heard about a skill she had, he made the same comment. She didn’t seem the type to know how to start a fire with only one match. She didn’t seem the type to know how to navigate using only a makeshift compass. By now, months after landing on Lian Yu, she was tired of hearing it.

* * *

 

**Starling-Present**

 The next morning, the rescued castaways were up at dawn. Everyone headed down to the kitchen for breakfast. Raisa hadn’t come in yet, so Oliver started to make something for the girls. They were finishing their meal when Moira and Thea came into the room.

“Raisa comes in at 8. You could have waited for her to make something.”

“Yeah, yesterday she promised me French toast.” Thea said. “She makes great French toast, you gotta try it.”

“That’s…..not really a good idea.” Felicity said. She wanted to be as polite as possible. “It’s just, that’s a bit-“

“A bit what?”

“The twins have never really had heavy, rich foods like that. Oliver and I haven’t had them in five years. Our bodies aren’t really used to them.”

“Ok, and? You had dinner with us and you were fine.”

Oliver and Felicity shared a look. Dinner hadn’t been fine. The two adults didn’t eat much and after dinner, Felicity had convinced Raisa to make the girls some plain, baked chicken. Scrambled eggs and toast were about as flavorful as they could get right now.

“I don’t wanna risk making either of them sick.” She said. “They need to be eased into more flavorful and heavier foods.”

Thea was about to respond when Sara tugged on Felicity’s arm. “Mommy, I need to go outside.”

“Why do you need to go outside?”

“I need to go potty.”

“Honey, you don’t- we aren’t on the island. You go potty inside the house, not outside.” She told her. Yesterday she’d explained this to Shado and thought Oliver would’ve run into a similar problem with Sara. Clearly he hadn’t. “Follow me.” She led the blonde toddler down the hall to the bathroom. She explained what the toilet was and how it was used.

Soon enough, they came back into the kitchen. “How has-?” Moira started. “You know, on second thought. I don’t want to know. What are you four up to today?”

“I promised my mom we’d talk today. And Tommy’s throwing us a back from the dead party.” Felicity said. “Other than that, I don’t know. I should probably spend some time looking for a job.”

“I’m sure there’s a position at Queen Consolidated-“ Moira began.

“We’ve been back for three days. You should take some-.” He said at the same time. “Besides, the girls-.”

“I’m looking for one. Doesn’t mean I’m going back to work tomorrow.” She said.

Oliver was giving his small family a better tour of the house and the grounds when Felicity realized they should probably leave to meet with her mom. “You coming with us or what?”

Oliver didn’t know what to say, but then both his daughters began pleading for him to come with them, so he wound up in an SUV being driven by his new bodyguard John Diggle.

“You sure about this? I don’t wanna crash your reunion lunch with your mother.”

“You aren’t. you’re helping me stay sane. Besides, I need some back up against Tornadoes One and Two.” She gestured to the girls.

“But still. I didn’t want to meet your mother like this.”

“Trust me, she doesn’t care. I left single and came back kinda in a relationship. She’s thrilled.”

Digg pulled into the Table Salt parking lot at that moment and everyone got out of the car. Donna was outside the restaurant and began jumping up and down in excitement.

“Hi, Mom.” She said as she went to hug Donna. The older blonde returned the hug and didn’t let go for several moments. Then, she turned her attention to the twins.

“Hello, my adorable little nuggets!” she said as she squeezed them.

“We’re not nuggets.” Sara pointed out.

“That’s just a name Grandma Donna calls people she loves.” Felicity said. “Like you two. Now, who’s hungry?”

The group sat down and ordered. After the server walked away, Donna began questioning Oliver. “So, what’s going on between you and Felicity?”

“Mom-“

“Shh. Let him answer.”

“We haven’t had a chance to talk about it yet.” He said. “We wanted to get the girls adjusted first.”

“But what are you going to do? You were together on the island, I’m assuming.” She said glancing over at the twins.

“That’s between me and Oliver, Mom.”

“Fine. Ruin all my fun.” She said. “You know his mother’s gonna wanna know too, right? So, she can ‘handle’ things accordingly.”

“What does that-?”

“I shouldn’t have said anything. You two are alive and back and what happened when you went missing doesn’t matter anymore.”

Clearly, something had happened between Donna and Moira five years ago that led to the two women not being on good terms. Lunch was tense after that, with Felicity and Oliver avoiding any question about the island and Donna not wanting to be the only one talking. As the group went to leave, Felicity could tell this hadn’t gone the way Donna had hoped. Felicity had sworn that, if she ever made it home, she’d fix her relationship with her mother. So, as an olive branch of sorts, Felicity invited Donna to her and Oliver’s ‘Back From the Dead’ party that night. She accepted.

Donna came over a few hours before the party so she could get ready with Felicity. Her mother was trying to reconnect with her, so she tried seem open to it. Donna and Moira said hello but didn’t address each other beyond that. When Oliver had asked his mother if she’d watch Sara and Shado for a few hours, she instantly agreed. Now, the twins watched their parents get ready for the party and had a million questions.

“Why can’t we go?”

“It’s a grown-up party. You’d get bored.”

“If it’s a grown-up party, why isn’t Grandma Moira going?”

“Oh, I’m too old to go to something like that.” Moira answered.

“but Grandma Donna’s old too and she’s going.”

“This party’s gonna have an open bar, right?” Donna asked Oliver when Sara said that.

“Mommy, can I have a dress like that?” Shado asked when she stepped out of the bathroom. Felicity was wearing a skintight blue dress that ended at her midthigh. She paired it with some four-inch silver heels and minimal make-up.

“No.” Oliver said almost instinctively.

“But Mommy and Grandma can?”

“Yeah, Oliver. why can’t they have a dress like mine?” she asked him with a raised eyebrow.

“You can have one when you’re older.” He justified. “A lot older, okay?”

“But Mommy looks pretty and Shado and I wanna look pretty too!”

“You girls aren’t just pretty, you’re the most beautiful people I’ve ever seen.” Felicity said bending down to their level. The movement made her dress bunch up and Oliver bit back a groan. The dress really did look amazing on her. “How about this? Tomorrow, we’ll go to the store and buy both of you some pretty dresses if that’s what you want. Not like my dress, but some pretty dresses for my two beautiful girls.”

“Okay.”

“Okay. Now, say bye-bye to Mommy, Daddy and Grandma. You’ll be asleep when we get back. And be good for Grandma Moira.” The toddlers said goodbye to everyone and the partygoers left.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity go to their 'Back From the Dead' party, the police show up, and Moira learns something she wishes she didn't know.

“Are we sure both of us going to this party is a good idea?” Felicity asked when they were halfway there.

“I thought you wanted to come.”

“I do, its just, the girls. We haven’t- this is the first time in three and a half years neither of us has been with them.” she said. “We both know how they do with separation.”

At the hospital in China after their rescue, the staff had tried to take the twins into a separate room to examine them. Sara bit the nurse who was trying to carry her into another room. Shado started hitting and kicking her own nurse and eventually, the staff gave up and ran their tests with Oliver and Felicity still there.

“I think they’ll be fine. Its only for a few hours and they like my mom and Raisa. And she’ll call if we need to come home.” he assured her.

When they arrived at the venue, the party was already well underway. As Oliver looked out on the sea of people, all he could think was that Ollie would’ve loved this. Oliver, however, would’ve bailed on the party if he didn’t have an ulterior motive for it. He’d started doing that sometime after Ivo, thinking of who he used to be as another person entirely. He wasn’t that boy anymore. Felicity looked over the crowd and instantly felt dread. She wasn’t a huge party-person before the island and now this many people in such a small space made her feel on edge.

Tommy noticed them walking in and signaled to the DJ to start playing ‘We Are the Champions’. Oliver hopped up on stage as Tommy announced his arrival and Oliver, fully immersed in his ‘Ollie’ persona, made a speech about everything he missed, especially tequila. With the party picking back up, Tommy pulled Oliver aside.

“Now, by my rough estimate, you haven’t had sex in 1839 days-.”

“I have two 3-year old daughters, so it hasn’t been quite that long.”

“-And as your wingman, I recommend Carmen Golden.” Tommy continued. He didn’t respond and searched the crowd for Felicity, finding her off to the side talking to some woman. Tommy noticed where his friend was looking. “Unless of course, you don’t need my help in that department.”

“I don’t- it hasn’t come up yet.”

“If you say- oh that’s not good.” The woman talking to Felicity had turned slightly, it was Laurel.

“I’ll be right back.”

 

Felicity was starting to wonder if she should’ve stayed home with the girls. This party was mostly for Oliver which left her in an awkward position. Everyone knew by now that she’d been stranded with him. Every woman there was glaring at her, sizing her up as a threat. Every guy who’d hit on her so far brought up the island, her supposed dry spell and said they’d remind her what she’d been missing for five years. A few made sleezy comments about how the pair would’ve had to get ‘real close’ to survive.

Not wanting to cause a scene or hurt someone, Felicity excused herself to get away from the crowd. She was talking herself out of declaring the last guy legally dead and stealing all of his money when a brunette woman she didn’t know but seemed familiar walked over to her.

“Not your scene?”

“Wasn’t my scene before the island, definitely isn’t mine now.” She responded. “Sorry, I’m Felicity, Felicity Smoak.”

“Laurel Lance.” The woman introduced herself.

“Oh, I- I didn’t know her, and I know it won’t mean much, but I’m sorry about Sara.” Felicity knew she’d probably meet Sara’s family at some point. She didn’t expect to meet both Lances within the span of two days.

“Thank you.” she responded. “Can I ask if you didn’t really know her, why did you name your daughter after her?”

“We each named a twin. Oliver named Sara and I named Shado. They’re both friends we lost.”

“About Sara, my Sara, there’s something I’ve been afraid to ask but I need to know, and asking Ollie would be-.”

“You don’t need to explain, what is it?”

“When she died, did she suffer?”

“No.” Felicity answered. She and Oliver had both agreed that, if anyone asked, Sara Lance died quickly and painlessly when the Gambit sank. There was no point in burdening her family with the truth of how she died or what she’d endured beforehand.

“I think about her every day, and when I saw the news- I thought-“

“I’m sorry for that too.”

“Laurel, I didn’t think you’d make it.” Oliver said, breaking up the conversation. Neither woman seemed overly upset but they were both uncomfortable.

“Tommy, he convinced me we had too much history to leave things the way we did.” She said. “Is there somewhere quieter we could talk?” Even though she’d gotten a chance to ask Felicity about Sara’s death, she still had a lot of things she needed to say to Oliver.

 

After talking to Laurel and telling her to stay away from him, Oliver was able to slip away from the party and deal with Hunt. He took down his security and fired a router arrow into the wall behind Hunt’s desk. His escape was delayed somewhat when Hunt’s bodyguard shot him but he still managed to evade the police and returned to the party unnoticed. The police showed up to the party looking for the Hood and Oliver cockily offered two million dollars as a reward for finding him.

“Did you even try to save her?” Lance asked. “Did you even try to save my daughter?”

“C’mon partner.” Hinton said trying to avoid a scene.

“Did you-?”

“I know you’re upset and angry, but you don’t get to make comments like that.” A voice said from behind him. He turned to see Felicity standing next to a woman who looked just like her.

“Mom-“

“No, he’s angry, I get that. But it doesn’t make it okay for him to say things like that.” Donna insisted. “I know how it felt, when the news broke, and I can’t imagine how him coming back and her not feels. But accusing him like you just did isn’t healthy or productive.”

“Mom, he doesn’t need a lecture and I’m sure he’d like to get back to his search.” Felicity said. Donna shot Lance one last angry look before walking away. “He did try, but she was already gone.” She told Quentin before walking away.

The rest of the party was unremarkable and soon enough, Oliver and Felicity were on their way home. “We didn’t get any calls from Mom or Raisa, that’s a good sign.” He whispered to her.

“I’m not insane to worry. Last time I was away from the girls for more than five minutes-“

“I know, but they’re at home and they’re safe.”

“Does he know yet? Hunt?”

“He won’t know for a few more hours at least. Your tech is really good.”

“You better believe. Still, I should’ve gone with you.” It wasn’t that Felicity wanted to fight, but she did have something to avenge too. Robert Queen implied, right before his death, that the Gambit sinking was his fault. She needed to enact justice on those who caused the yacht’s sinking and made her next five years a nightmare.

“It would’ve been suspicious. Mr. Diggle already thinks there’s something going on.”

“Oh if he only knew.” she said smirking as they pulled into the driveway. They went inside and went their separate ways.

“How was the party?” Moira asked when she came upon Oliver in the hallway.

“Fine. I’m not used to being around so many people.” He answered. “It didn’t- it was nice but it didn’t feel the same.”

“Sorry, those shoes were killing me.” Felicity said as she came out into the hallway. “How were the girls?”

“Good, all things considered. They got anxious after about an hour when you hadn’t come back.” she answered. “There’s something I wanted to show you though.”

She turned and walked into the twins’ room and gestured for them to follow. Felicity and Oliver walked into the room to find the twins not in bed. Instead, they were curled up on the floor with blankets and pillows. The girls were sound asleep.

“I came to check on them and found them like this.”

“They haven’t had one before, a bed I mean. We made do on the island but it wasn’t an actual bed.” Felicity said.

“They slept fine last night.” Oliver pointed out.

“Yes, because you and I were with them. They haven’t slept in a real bed alone before.”

“Mommy?” Shado said sitting up.

“Hi, honey. Why aren’t you and Sara sleeping in your beds?”

“We are.” She said. “Like on the island.”

“You don’t need to sleep on the ground like on the island. You should sleep in the bed.”

“Oh.”

By now, Sara had woken up too and wanted to know what was going on. “I want you girl to get into bed, your real beds, and go back to sleep.”

“Can I stay with Sara?” Shado looked scared to have a bed all to herself. The blonde toddler looked only slightly less scared.

“Yes. Now, get into bed.”

The girls climbed into the bed and began to settle down. “You and Daddy stay too.”

“We’ll stay until you fall asleep, okay?” Oliver told them.

Within a few minutes, the pair were asleep once again. Moira, whose presence had been forgotten, began to sniffle. It hadn’t fully hit her yet, how many simple things, like having a bed to sleep in, Felicity and Oliver had gone without for the last five years.

“Mom?”

She didn’t say anything but ran from the room. “I think it just hit her, how inhospitable the island was. Give her some time.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity get legally resurrected and take on Martin Somers.

The next morning, Felicity, Oliver and the twins were up bright and early. Today was the day Oliver and Felicity were being legally brought back from the dead. it was also the day Shado and Sara would be getting their birth certificates. It had taken Starling General a little longer than they hoped to get everything sorted out and the right paperwork filed. In their defense, it was a rather unusual situation.

Only Felicity could read exactly how nervous Oliver was and vice versa. They’d worked out their story already, how they got to the island, what happened to Robert and Sara, but that didn’t make the thought of talking about it any easier.

“When you’re ready, Mr. Queen.” The judge said.

“There was a storm, the boat went down. I made it to the raft and saw someone flailing in the water. I managed to make it over to them, and pulled the person into the life raft. It was Felicity- Ms. Smoak. My father didn’t make it.” he said before swallowing thickly. “We almost died. I thought we had because we spent so many days on that life raft before we saw the island.”

"Your Honor, we move to vitiate the death-in-absentia filed after Oliver’s disappearance-“

“In a moment, I’d like to hear Ms. Smoak’s account of what happened.” the judge said.

“There was a storm, it was a really bad storm. I was in my cabin when the yacht capsized. I’m not sure what happened right after that, because the next thing I knew, I was treading water in the middle of the ocean. It was night, so I couldn’t see anything. After what felt like a long time someone, Oliver, pulled me into the life raft. We drifted for days before washing up on the island.” She recounted. “For the first few weeks, we kept a fire lit on the beach, hoping someone would see it. No one did.”

“By the authority given to me by the state of Washington, I hereby rescind the declaration of death for Oliver Queen filed following his disappearance five years ago. Seeing as a declaration of death for Felicity Smoak was never filed, there’s nothing to rescind in her case.”

Felicity spun around to send her mother a questioning look. “I always knew you were alive. I could feel it.”

Some of the tension between Donna and Moira made a little more sense now. Moira had Oliver declared dead. She’d had a funeral, mourned him and figured out a way to move on. Donna hadn’t. She hadn’t gotten closure or grieved for her daughter. Felicity was still reeling from Donna’s statement and didn’t hear anything else the judge said. Before she knew it, they were leaving the courtroom.

“Everything okay?”

“Five years and she still thought I was alive.”

“You were alive.”

“But she didn’t know that. She spent five years hoping I’d come back and now- now, I’m not the same Felicity that went missing.”

“And she isn’t the same Donna who watched you get onto that boat.” He assured her. They were reaching the front doors when Oliver collided with someone. He turned to see it was Laurel who was standing there with two other women.

“What are you doing here?”

“They were bringing me back from the dead, legally speaking. You?”

“My job.” Before she could say anything else, Sara had moved forward and kicked Laurel in the leg.

“That’s for saying mean things about my daddy, meanie!” the three year old said as she kicked her again.

“Sara!” Felicity said, pulling the little girl away. “You can’t just kick people. It’s not nice. Tell Ms. Lance you’re sorry.”

“Sorry.” the tiny blonde grumbled.

“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have said what I said.” Laurel was looking at Sara but everyone knew she was really talking to Oliver.  “I should be going, Martin Somers isn’t going to sue himself.”

Laurel, her coworker and their client continued on their way while Felicity and Oliver shared a look. They knew the name Martin Somers. It was on Robert’s list. They had a new target.

“Well, that wasn’t awkward or anything.” Tommy said from behind Oliver.

Not wanting the press to surround them or the girls the second they exited the courthouse, Felicity and Oliver had asked Digg to pull the car around to the back entrance of the building. Felicity got both girls buckled into their car seats before turning to Tommy and Diggle.

“That kinda took a lot out of us, and Oliver and I need to talk about some stuff involving the twins. Could you take them back to the mansion? Raisa said she’d watch them.”

“Babysitting’s not really my forte.”

“My job is to protect Oliver, not be a chauffer.”

“I understand that, but I can’t have a serious, grown-up discussion about child custody and things like that with two toddlers running around.” She said. “Please.”

“Fine. I’ll take them home and come back for both of you.” Digg relented. He was suspicious of Oliver, but couldn’t argue with Felicity’s logic at the moment.

They waved goodbye to the girls. Tommy was still with them, but as they were leaving the building, the press noticed the trio and started to surround them. They managed to get away from both the press and Tommy in the chaos and began heading to the lair Oliver set up in his father’s old steel factory.

“How long do you think you bought us?” He asked.

“As long as we need. Raisa or your mom will take care of the girls. And if the last few days prove anything, you’re great at avoiding Digg.” She said throwing him one of the escrima sticks “Let’s spar. I’m rusty.”

“It’s been like a week and a half. How can you be rusty?”

“Because that’s pretty much what I did everyday for the last five years. And you don’t get to complain, you’ve gone into the field already.”

“We should probably talk about it, talk about us, I mean. At some point.”

“I know, I just- not today. Its been emotional enough as is.”

“Fair enough.”

They sparred for hours, until nightfall. Then, it was time to face Somers for the first time. Oliver and Felicity had agreed to give every target an initial warning. They had one chance to do what Oliver said willingly, after that he’d force them to do what he wanted.

Somers was in the middle of yelling at his lawyers when Felicity and Oliver snuck into his office by the docks. They made quick work of the lights and his men before knocking him out. Somers awoke hanging upside down to see the Hood and an unknown woman dressed in a similar green outfit standing in front of him.

“Martin Somers, you’ve failed this city.”

“You’re gonna testify in that trial. You’re gonna confess to having Victor Nocenti killed.”

“There won’t be a second warning.”

Somers brought his hands up to protect his face from arrows and when he lowered them, Oliver and Felicity were gone.

Felicity and Oliver changed back into their normal clothes and headed back to the mansion. Moira asked where they’d been for the last several hours and they answered by saying their talk took longer than they thought it would. They didn’t come back sooner because they wanted to get everything squared away. As they were explaining, the twins came running down the stairs, shouting in excitement.

“Daddy! Mommy! Daddy!”

“Why are you girls up so late? And why are you shouting?”

“We found something really cool in the backyard.” Sara said as she grabbed Oliver’s hand and tried to pull him outside.

“It’s late and its dark. Why don’t you show us tomorrow?” Felicity suggested. “First thing, okay?”

By the next morning, the twins had forgotten what they wanted to show their parents. Instead, everyone headed to QC. Walter and Moira wanted to talk to Oliver about his position within the company and Felicity needed decide what department she was going to work in. The girls were bored, which they mentioned more than once. Oliver got them to stay quiet and still by bribing them with soda. According to him, that’s why he wanted to visit QC with his father so often as a kid. Thanks to the soda, the twins were bouncing off the walls by the time they left the office.

Oliver mentioned he needed to talk to Laurel about something on the ride home. Shado insisted on coming with him since ‘Sara got to go last time’ and she didn’t think it was fair if she got to go with him again. Felicity was fine with that since it meant she wouldn’t have two hyperactive toddlers on her hands.

A little after dark, Oliver knocked on the door of Laurel’s apartment with a paper bag in one hand and Shado’s hand in the other. After everything he’d said about Laurel needing to stay away from him, she was understandably annoyed that he was there. She reluctantly let him and Shado in.

“What’s in the bag?”

“I thought about a lot of things on the island, but there was one thing I thought about everyday. I actually dreamed about it and I promised myself that if I ever got the chance to do it again, I’d do it with you.” he reached into the bag and pulled a carton out. “Eat ice cream.”

“Yay!” Shado exclaimed when she recognized the carton.

“You’ve never had ice cream before. How do you know you like it?” Oliver asked.

“Yes I have. Me and Mommy had some before she made her hair funny.”

“Oh, you did?”

“She said not to tell you or Sara ‘cause it might make you sad.”

“Something tells me she’s telling your sister the same thing right now.” He remarked. “Can you sit here for a second while I help Laurel out with something?” The little girl nodded.

“I know why you’re here. Why did you bring her with you?” Laurel said, glancing at Shado.

“Felicity didn’t want to be left alone with two hyperactive three year olds and Shado wanted to come with me because Sara went with me last time. I’m sorry, I know this is probably a little weird for you.”

“A little weird? You got onto the Gambit my boyfriend and came back Felicity’s boyfriend and a father. It’s a lot weird.”

“Felicity and I, we haven’t- we aren’t- I don’t really know what we are right now.” He told her.

She didn’t respond but walked into the kitchen and came back holding three spoons. “Let’s dig in before all this delicious ice cream melts.”

Shado was too focused on the desert to pay any attention to the very serious and grown-up discussion Oliver and Laurel were having. As Laurel and Oliver were discussing Moira’s attitude, the little girl was eagerly eating her ice cream until suddenly both Oliver and Shado froze.

“Daddy-“

“Do you hear that?” He asked Laurel, reaching for a butter knife on the table. “There’s someone on the fire escape.” He grabbed Laurel’s hand and moved in front of his daughter. “Come on.” He pulled both of them away from the windows and towards the door.

Unfortunately, the door was kicked in by an attacker before they could make it out. A man with a machine gun came through the door while two others appeared from behind them, along with an Asian woman with white hair, Chien Na Wei. Digg rushed in and shot one attacker.

Before Chien could begin fighting Digg, she was tackled by a shorter blonde woman. The blonde woman was wearing a green outfit, like the Hood’s, and had a quiver strapped to her back. She and Wei soon began fighting hand-to-hand while Digg was focused on one of the other attackers and Oliver was trying to get Shado and Laurel to safety. Digg was done fighting his opponent and turned his attention to the unknown blonde, believing her to be a threat. She saw that the bodyguard looked ready to shoot her, so she did the only thing she could think of. Before he could fire a shot, Felicity threw Chien Na Wei at Diggle. She was gone before either got their bearings.

Wei focused her attention on Digg and started coming at him with a knife. She knocked him to the ground and was about to stab him when Oliver threw the butter knife in his hands at her. It knocked the knife out of her hand and she took off when she heard sirens. John stood and made sure Oliver and Shado were okay before trying to follow after her.

 

“Tell me again what happened.” Lance said as he took Oliver’s statement.

“The bad men came crashing through the windows and Daddy tried to get me and Ms. Laurel away from them. Then, Mr. Digg came in to help. A pretty blonde lady came crashing through the window and started fighting the mean lady with white hair. It was so cool! The nice lady had to leave and then the mean lady tried to hurt Mr. Digg, so Daddy threw a knife at her to make her stop and she ran away. It was awesome.” Shado said bouncing up and down. The other adults thought she was too young to understand what had actually happened.

“You threw a knife at her?”

“I didn’t hit her, it was a butter knife and the only thing I could think of.” Oliver answered.

“And this ‘nice lady’, what did she look like?”

“I don’t know. She had a mask over her face.” The toddler shrugged.

“I didn’t see her.” Laurel said. “My view was blocked by Oliver and Mr. Diggle.”

“Is she connected to the man in the hood?”

“I don’t know.” Oliver answered.

“Because this is the second time you’ve been in some kind of danger and some masked vigilante’s shown up to save your ass.”

Lance told Diggle, Oliver and Shado they were free to go and they headed home. John was clearly suspicious about what happened with the knife, but didn’t want to ask questions in front of the little girl. When they got home, Shado raced upstairs, excited to tell Sara about the adventure she’d gotten to have. Oliver went to Felicity’s room to make sure she was okay. She’d taken some pretty hard kicks during her fight against Chien Na Wei.

“I thought we agreed you weren’t going into the field just yet.”

“I wasn’t going to, but I found out the Triad had a hit out on Laurel, and I knew you and Shado were over there. I will always do what I have to to keep the girls safe.”

“I know that. Clearly, Somers doesn’t want to face justice in a court of law.”

“Time for him to face a different kind of justice.”

Luckily, the girls were already asleep and no one noticed Felicity and Oliver sneaking out of the mansion this late at night.

 

Down at the docks, Somers was panicking. The Triad had botched the hit on Laurel Lance. He knew they’d be looking to tidy up loose ends soon enough. Loose ends like himself. He needed to be as far away from Starling as possible when they came looking. He told one of his men to radio one of the others.

“Wallace? Wallace, do you copy?”

“Wallace isn’t here.” Oliver growled into the radio he’d taken from the man. “But I am, and I brought a friend.”

“You go right, I’ll go left?” Felicity asked.

“Works for me. Don’t kill Somers if you get there first.”

“I’m aware of what the plan is, Oliver.” she said before walking away.

They fought their way through Somers’ men. Oliver saw him first and chased him into a warehouse. He went running towards the opposite door, only to find his path blocked by Felicity. He spun around to go back the way he came, only for Oliver to shoot an arrow right past his head.

“Oh, god. No, no, no.”

“He can’t help you. We want the truth about Victor Nocenti.”

“I-I can’t, the Triad-“

“They aren’t your biggest problem right now.” Felicity said, stepping up behind Oliver.

First he blamed the Triad before admitting to having Nocenti killed on his orders. The man was going to testify against Somers, Somers told the Triad and the Triad dealt with the problem. He was going to say more, but then he looked behind them. Chien Na Wei had entered the building.

“Move away from him.” she said in Mandarin.

“I was hoping for a rematch.” Felicity responded as she threw a punch at the other woman.

They fought. Oliver continued to question Somers about his business and link to the Triad. Having gotten enough of a confession already, he turned his attention to where Felicity and Wei were battling it out, turning the one-on-one fight into a two-on-one. The Triad assassin was good, but she wasn’t good enough to beat both of them at the same time. The fight was interrupted when sirens began to blare and a voice called out over a megaphone.

“This is the police. Drop your weapons. You are surrounded.”

She ran out one door, Oliver and Felicity ran out of the other. When they got out of the building, Felicity started to run in between the different shipping containers while Oliver jumped onto one and began run from one container to another, staying above the ground. After a while, he jumped down and started to run beside Felicity. They turned a corner and ran right into Detective Lance.

“Freeze! Either of you twitch, you’re dead.” he yelled. “Put the bows down, and your hands up.” Felicity started to do what he said, slowly, while Oliver used the distraction to throw an arrow at Lance, disarming him. Lance looked to see where the arrow landed, and when he looked back, both vigilantes were gone. He saw that the arrow was blinking and hit a button. The tape began to rewind before playing Martin Somers full confession. “Son of a bitch.”

 

“Now he knows we’re working together.” Oliver lamented as he and Felicity changed out of their suits.

“He knew that a few hours ago when I saved your butt.”

Oliver wanted to remark that he had things under control and she didn’t save his butt, but held off. “This complicates things.”

“We’ll deal with it.” she said. “The real question is what are you going to do about QC? Your mom’s signaling pretty hard that she wants you in the executive suite already.”

“I’m gonna say no. I’m gonna tell her I’m not sure I wanna work there, that I don’t know what I want to do and then come up with something else. Preferably something that gives both of us a cover for coming here at odd times.” He said, gesturing to the old steel factory around them. “Maybe a nightclub? What about you?”

“QC’s already offered me a position in IT. I’m pretty sure it’s only about 60% a bribe or for good PR. I didn’t give them an answer, it’ll probably be ‘yes’. I need something to do during the day, they have daycare, which should help the girls adjust. I didn’t want to accept until I talked to you.”

“You should do it. The first two years I heard all about how much you missed your tech.” he joked.

“You weren’t there for the first six months. Imagine how much Slade heard about it.”

The next day, Oliver showed up at the opening ceremony for QC’s new Applied Sciences building, named after Robert Queen. He gave a very generic speech about his father and honoring his memory. It wasn’t a memorable speech and he got a lukewarm reaction. He could tell his mother wasn’t entirely pleased, but he decided his boring speech was better than showing up drunk and making a scene or not showing up at all. After the ceremony was over, he pulled his mother aside and told her he wasn’t sure if this was what he wanted. She wasn’t happy, but agreed to give him some time to figure things out.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the island, there's a reunion. In Starling City, there's a sniper running amok. Oliver also regrets some of his recent and not-so-recent decisions.

**Lian Yu- 2007**

Felicity and Slade were out in the field next to his plane. As they did every other morning, they were practicing with the escrima sticks. Over the last few months, her skills had improved by a great deal and she was trying to talk him into letting her practice with a real weapon now.

“Yes, well-“ Slade suddenly stopped. “Someone’s coming.”

Felicity went inside the wrecked plane and hid behind some crates of supplies while Slade climbed up to a hiding place on the roof of the plane to wait for their unexpected and unwelcome guest. A few moments later, she heard footsteps getting closer. With a quiet thud, Slade came out from his hiding place.

“Twitch and I will open your throat.” He said. “How many more with you?”

“W-What?” the intruder said. Felicity thought she knew that voice, but didn’t stand up in case she was wrong.

“You have ten seconds to tell me something I’ll believe before I cut out your voice box.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Yao Fei sent me here and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t-“

“Stop.” Felicity said standing up from her hiding place. “He’s- I know him. He was the other survivor of the shipwreck.”

“You-?” Oliver asked confused. “You’re still-. How-?”

“You weren’t on the beach when I got back. I went looking for you and ran into him.” She answered.

“It’s all nice and good that you two found each other, but how did you even find this place?” Slade asked Oliver.

He explained everything that had happened between burying his father to Yao Fei giving him a map to the plane. He didn’t know what to make of the archer’s actions or what he meant. Slade then explained about the airstrip, his plan with Yao Fei and what he probably meant when he gave Oliver the map. Slade then tossed a weapon to Oliver, wanting to see how his fight skills were. They got into an argument about Oliver’s lack of skills and Slade knocked him out cold.

“I’d say he fought like a girl, but that’s insulting to you.” he told Felicity as he tied Oliver to a chair. “He’ll be out for a while. It’s your turn to check the perimeter. I’ll keep an eye on him.” She didn’t believe Slade, but left anyway, hoping to get back before Oliver woke up.

By the time she returned to the fuselage, Oliver was untied and Slade didn’t look quite as ready to kill him. When Oliver saw her, he asked a question that hadn’t occurred to him until now.

“If you need two people to take the airstrip, why didn’t the two of you leave already?”

“Two’s good. Three’s better.” Felicity said. “And that was the plan.”

“You weren’t gonna look for me?”

“I did. I spent the week before I met him looking for you. After I met Slade, I kept looking because if I ever get off this island, people are gonna ask what happened. When the tracks led toward Fyers camp, I thought one of two things happened. Either they killed you or you joined them.”

“Well, they didn’t kill me and I didn’t join them.” he said. “You survived on your own on this island for a week?”

“Yeah, my uncle’s an ex-Navy SEAL. He’s a big survivalist, too. Some of it rubbed off.” she said. “And, yes, I know. I don’t seem like someone who’d be into that kind of thing.”

* * *

 

**Starling City-Present**

After the Applied Sciences ceremony, Oliver went home to find Felicity watching Shado and Sara playing outside. Thea was right behind him. As soon as she stepped onto the patio, both girls ran up to her.

“Auntie Speedy! Come play with us!”

“What are we playing?”

“Tag.” Sara yelled before tagging Thea. “You’re It.” She ran off with her sister. Thea took off her shoes and went running after them.

“They didn’t even ask me to play.” Oliver pouted.

“Well, they know they aren’t fast enough to tag you.”

“No, its not just that. They go to you when they’re scared. They tell you stories that they don’t tell me. it’s clear to everyone around that they like you more than me.”

“They don’t like me more.” She assured him. “They just- thanks to Waller, you missed a year of their lives when she dragged you to Hong Kong, and to keep your promise to Taiana, you missed another eight months in Russia. That’s a lot of time for children so young. They’re not as used to you being around.”

“I tried, you know, in Hong Kong, I tried to escape, to get back to all three of you, but-“

“You don’t need to justify anything to me.” She told him before letting out a huge yawn. “Ah, sorry. Wow, I’m tired all of a sudden.”

“Don’t be. We were out pretty late last night.”

“I haven’t been sleeping that well to begin with to be honest.” She admitted.

“Hard to get used to the mattress?” He asked.

It wasn’t the mattress that was the problem, it was the fact that Oliver wasn’t in the same bed as her anymore. She didn’t say anything, because she didn’t want to make things awkward, but Felicity missed sleeping next to Oliver. The best night of sleep she’d had was the night all four of them fell asleep in Felicity’s room. little did she know, Oliver was going through the same thing.

“Are you sure it was a good idea to bring Shado when you went to see Laurel?”

“What do you-?”

“You went to see your ex with your daughter. So you two could eat ice cream together. Almost like a date. I don’t think you meant for it to appear a certain way, but-“

“But she might read things wrong. Crap.” Oliver wasn’t interested in Laurel. He’d gone there to try and glean information about her case. He also wanted to kill some of the awkwardness between them. Now that he was hearing it from Felicity, he could see how it looked. “I wanted to find out what she knew about Somers. I’m not- I wasn’t- I should tell her that was platonic.”

“Was it?”

“Laurel’s not the woman I’m interested in.”

A loud clap of thunder sounded and it looked like it was going to rain. Both Oliver and Felicity jumped at the noise and had to focus incredibly hard to not have a flashback to the storm that changed their lives. Thea and the twins must’ve heard it too, since they came running back to the house soon after. Everyone got inside right as the first raindrops began to fall.

“Why did we have to come in?” Shado asked.

“We didn’t want you to get all cold and wet.” Oliver told her.

“Why? It’s just water.” She asked again as they moved away from the backyard. She didn’t get it. They got cold and wet on the island and no one seemed to mind. Why weren’t they supposed to get cold or wet here?

The small family walked into the family room, where Moira and Walter were watching the news. A police spokesperson was making a statement. “Last night, the SCPD became aware of another vigilante operating in Starling City. During an incident at the docks where we attempted to apprehend the vigilante known as the Hood, a detective spotted a second vigilante who is apparently in league, or in the very least associated with, him. We know the Hood to be male and his accomplice we believe is female. Both individuals escaped arrest and we are working hard to catch both criminals.”

Moira gave a slightly unladylike snort, “Another one? This city doesn’t need one vigilante, let alone two.”

“But Grandma!” Sara said. “The Hood saved me and Daddy from the mean men who took us!”

“And the pretty lady helped me, Daddy and Ms. Laurel when the mean lady came into her house.” Shado added. “They’re both nice. Why are they in trouble?”

“Girls, being a grown-up is complicated. The Hood and the nice lady helped us, but the police think they did some bad things and broke some laws.” Oliver explained. “They’re just doing their job.”

“Well, their job is stupid.” The toddler said crossing her arms. Her twin followed suit.

 

That night, after the girls went to bed, Oliver and Felicity snuck out of the mansion and headed to the old steel factory. Tonight’s target was a man named James Holder. His company had knowingly installed faulty smoke detectors in low-income housing, leading to several deaths. Oliver and Felicity suited up and headed out. They had just approached Holder when a sniper shot him from across the street. The sniper then started firing at them. Felicity was able to get out of the way in time, but Oliver’s arm was grazed.

They went back to the factory and Felicity dressed the wound. She went home to check on the girls while Oliver worked on figuring out who the sniper was. Not long after she left, he began to feel weird. He realized the bullet had been laced with poison. Thankfully, the herbs from the island were able to save him.

Oliver was able to identify the sniper through the poison he used. The poison was so rare and deadly, it was his calling card of sorts. The assassin was known to Interpol as Deadshot. The following night, they ran into Deadshot again at the address they tracked him to. A fight ensued and while the sniper escaped, Felicity managed to steal his laptop and was able to break into it. Warren Patel had hired Deadshot, aka Floyd Lawton, to kill anyone interested in buying Unidac Industries. Oliver made an anonymous call to Detective Lance to tell him about Deadshot’s other targets.

“Are we sure we should bring them?” Felicity asked as she and Oliver got dressed for the auction. Moira had taken the twins shopping earlier that day so they had something to wear to the party. Both girls returned with frilly dresses that Felicity knew they’d grow tired of in an hour.

“We already promised they could go.”

“Yes, but we’re talking about taking our daughters to an event we know is going to get attacked by a sniper. I know we don’t want to raise any alarms but-“

“The SCPD knows about Lawton. They’re going to be all over the auction. Everything’s going to be fine.” He assured her. Oliver still brought his suit just in case.

Everything was not fine. During the auction, Lawton tried to kill Walter, but thankfully Lance saw the laser scope and pushed him out of the way. Oliver vanished during the commotion, intent on handling Lawton then and there. Felicity left the girls with Moira, Thea and Walter, saying she needed to find Oliver. She found him across the street, in the building Lawton shot from. He was trying to get a wounded Digg to safety.

“We can’t just take him to the hospital.”

“We aren’t going to.” Oliver said. “There’s only one place we can take him.”

They drove him to the foundry and Oliver gave him herbs to stop the poison from killing him. Once John was out of the woods, Felicity realized she needed to go home and check on the girls.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Almost. It’s a risk but-.”

“But probably worth it, fair enough.” She said. “I’m going home, the girls are probably freaking out and your family’s definitely worried.”

“What are you going to tell them, about where I am?”

“I went looking for you in the commotion, I didn’t find you. Seems easier than making up some convoluted story like you would.”

“Hey, my cover stories aren’t that bad.”

“Pretty sure if you didn’t have me to break into Patel’s laptop, you would’ve taken it to Geek Squad and try to claim you split coffee on it, hoping they wouldn’t see the bullet holes.” She said.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity make John an offer; Felicity and Oliver have a long overdue discussion.

John woke with a start and looked around. He didn’t recognize where he was and didn’t remember anything that happened after running into the building where the sniper had shot from. There was a figure standing a few feet away from him. His vision cleared and he saw that the figure was Oliver Queen.

“Hello John.”

“Oliver? You’re that vigilante.” John shouted standing up.

“Take it easy. You were poisoned.” He said, trying to get him to sit back down.

“Son of a bitch!”

“Felicity and I could’ve taken you anywhere. We could’ve taken you home. Instead, we brought you here.”

“You really did lose your mind on that island. Clearly, she did too.”

“We found a few things too. Clarity for one.” He retorted. “Starling City is dying. It is being poisoned by a criminal elite who don't care who they hurt as long as they maintain wealth and power.”

 Oliver tried to convince Digg to join him and Felicity but the bodyguard rebuffed him. He stormed out of the foundry leaving a perturbed Oliver behind. The archer went home to find his mother and sister frantic about his whereabouts. They were going to start questioning him, when Felicity stepped in.

“It reminded you of- you know what, didn’t it?”He didn’t speak but nodded.

“Reminded him of what?” Moira asked.

“Something that happened on the island. We don’t like to talk about it.” she answered. They let the matter drop and Oliver headed upstairs with Felicity. “What was his answer?”

“He called both of us murderers and stormed out.”

“He’ll come around.” she told him.

“I should go to bed.” Oliver said, gesturing backwards to his bedroom door.

“Wait, do you- I’m tired of sleeping alone. I miss sleeping next to you. I miss being with you.”

“Me too.” Oliver said as he followed her into her room.

They both woke up the next morning feeling more rested than they had in weeks. They heard a scream and ran downstairs. The scream came from the kitchen, where they saw Sara and Shado holding something and Moira and Thea standing several feet away. Moira looked frightened.

“Daddy, look!” Sara turned, holding out an animal.

She was holding an orange cat with matted fur. The animal had clearly been living outside for a while and didn’t look happy he was brought inside. His fur was somewhat dirty and he had patched of fur missing, almost like it had been torn out during a fight.

“Sara, where did you get the cat?”

“Shado and I found him outside.”

“And he just let you bring him inside?”

“No, we gave him some food so he would like us.” Shado said.

“You’ve been feeding him?” Felicity asked.

“Yeah, we wanna keep him.”

“Please.”

“Girls, I’m not sure that’s a good-.”

“We need to take him to the doctor first, ok?” Oliver said squatting down to their level. “We wanna make sure he’s healthy before we keep him. And you girls have to pick a name for him.”

Moira watched this unfold before chuckling slightly. “Just like Robert.”

 

After the fiasco with the cat, who the girls named Oscar, Oliver got a phone call from Digg. He wanted to talk about what happened last night. They agreed to meet at Big Belly Burger around noon. John watched Oliver walk in, shadowed by his bodyguard.

“I couldn't help but notice a distinct lack of police cars when I got home. I knew you wouldn't drop a dime on us.” Oliver said sitting down. “So have you considered my offer?”

“Offer? Heh. That's one hell of a way to put it.”

“It is an offer. It's a chance to do the kind of good that compelled you to join the military.”

“Please. You were born with a platinum spoon in your mouth, Queen. What, you spent five years on an island with no one except Felicity and suddenly you found religion?”

He pulled out the notebook where the List was written. “This was my father's. I found it when I buried him.”

“You and Felicity both said your father died when the boat went down.”

“We both made it to a life raft. There wasn't enough food and water for all three of us, so he shot himself in the head. As much as he was doing it to give me and Felicity a chance to survive I believe that he was also atoning for his sins. I need to right the wrongs done by my family, Felicity needs the last five years not to have been for nothing and I'm offering you the chance - to right the wrongs that were done to yours.” He said before explaining that he’d taken down Floyd Lawton, Andy Diggle’s killer. “I'm giving you the chance a chance to help other people's families. Do you remember when the people in this city helped each other? They can't do that anymore, because a group of people like my father they see nothing wrong with raising themselves up by stepping on other people's throats. It does need to stop, and if it's not gonna be the courts and it's not gonna be the cops then it's gonna be me and Felicity. And, I hope, you.”

“Speaking of Felicity, I’m surprised she isn’t here trying to convince me.”

Just then, the bell over the door rang as someone entered the building. He turned around and saw Felicity coming into the restaurant holding the twins’ hands.

“Mommy, can we get milkshakes?” Shado said looking up at her.

“Only if you eat all your food, okay?” She said as she got them settled in a booth in front of the one Oliver and Digg were sitting in.

“Why isn’t Daddy sitting with us?”

“He needs to talk to Mr. Diggle about boring, grown-up stuff.” She told them right as Carly walked over to take their order.

John turned back to Oliver. “Playing dirty I see.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m a lot of things, stupid isn’t one of them. She brings those two little girls in here and it loosens my heart strings so I’ll agree. It’s not that clever.”

“Actually, she’s trying to convince you not to call the cops, even if you don’t accept.” He said plainly. “The twins need both their parents.” Oliver and John’s conversation began to go in circles, so Oliver excused himself so he could escape from his new bodyguard, Rob.

 

At the mansion a few hours later, the twins were playing with Felicity when one of them spoke up.

“Are you still mad at Daddy?” Shado asked.

“Why do you think I was mad?”

“Well, you and Daddy didn’t sleep next to each other. You always sleep next to each other. Were you fighting?”

“We weren’t fighting, honey. We just-“

“Is this a grown up thing-y?” Sara asked.

“Yeah it is. You’ll understand when you’re older.”

“Are you and Daddy gonna start kissing now?” she asked in a disgusted voice. The twins were so young that they thought kissing was gross.

Oliver wandered over to where they were. “Well, kissing your mommy is my favorite thing to do, so-“ He gave Felicity a quick kiss on the lips. “No, I need to do that again.” he gave her another kiss. “No, I need another one.”

“Ew! Gross!”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity continue their mission, Oliver gets backed into a corner and important information comes to light.

Oliver and Felicity walked into the living room of Queen mansion right as a news segment began to play. “We interrupt the regularly scheduled programming for an important announcement. Moments ago, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals published its decision on Peter Declan’s petition to have his death sentence commuted to life in prison. The panel voted 2-1 not to commute the sentence. Declan was convicted, and sentenced to death, in 2008 of the murder of his wife, Camille Declan. Declan has denied his guilt from the very beginning and believed her job with Broduer Chemical led to her death. With his last appeal exhausted, barring a miracle, his execution will proceed as scheduled in three days.”

Felicity and Oliver shared a look when the announcement about Declan was over. Peter Declan wasn’t on Robert’s list, but Jason Broduer, the CEO of Broduer Chemical, was. They went upstairs to Oliver’s room to look into the case, and Peter’s claims, further. It didn’t take long for both of them to be convinced of his innocence.

“Broduer is shady. Shadier than Sommers or Hunt. If she found something she wasn’t supposed to-“

“It definitely would’ve gotten her killed.” Oliver finished. “So, we only have three days to clear his name.”

“Or find enough evidence to warrant a stay of execution. We might need a little bit of help on this one.”

 

The next night, the Hood and his still unnamed female cohort broke into Laurel’s apartment and set her on the path to clearing Declan’s name. With her trying to save Declan the legal way, Oliver and Felicity started looking into it the less-than-legal way. It didn’t take long to find Camille Declan’s supervisor and get a confession from him. Like Felicity suspected, Camille discovered something she wasn’t supposed to, the company was dumping toxic waste into the Glades’ water supply, and threatened to expose them. Management ordered her killed and they framed her husband.

The afternoon that Declan was released, Oliver had finally convinced John to join them. They’d just shaken hands when the SCPD stormed into the house. Lance was leading the team. He told Oliver he was under arrest for being the vigilante. Felicity and Thea had come inside with the twins only a few moments earlier, and saw the whole thing. When Oliver had been escorted out by the police, Moira and Thea were yelling after them, demanding an explanation.

“Come on, girls, let’s go upstairs.” Felicity said. she wasn’t sure how she was supposed to explain this to them. “John, I could use a hand if you don’t mind.”

Sara and Shado went upstairs to their play room and Felicity closed the door behind them. She explained, in the most basic way possible, what had just happened and where Oliver was. She had just explained what he was accused of when both girls cut in.

“But, daddy’s always been the man in the hood.” Sara was confused.

“Does this mean they’re gonna take you away too?” Shado sounded scared.

“Why do they care now?”

“What do you mean?” Both responses surprised their mother.

“Daddy’s the man in the hood, the one who stopped the mean men in the warehouse.”

“And you were the nice lady who helped Daddy and Mr. Digg at Ms. Laurel’s.”

“Why do you think that’s your dad and I?”

“Well, the man wears a green hood like daddy and the lady stands like you. We also ‘member you and Daddy practicing on the island and they fight like you.” Sara explained. “And before the boat found us, you and Daddy told us to hide from the scary man, but we didn’t listen and saw you make him go away.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“We thought it was a secret, so we didn’t tell.”

 

Oliver sat in the interrogation room, trying to seem calm. He didn’t want to show it, but he was worried. Since they arrested him, were they going to connect the dots and assume Felicity was the female vigilante as well? Did they arrest her? Did the twins know what was going on?

Lance came into the room and started questioning Oliver, pulling him out of his reverie. He kept telling him that this was a mistake. That his evidence were all coincidences and Lance only saw what he wanted to see. The detective didn’t believe him and kept making accusations.

“So, let me guess. You’re the guy in the hood and your girlfriend is his partner. That makes-.”

“I’m not the man in the hood. And Felicity certainly isn’t some vigilante. She can’t even kill bugs. She feels guilty for overdue library books and-“

“His family’s here.” An officer said, opening the door to the room.

“I’m in the middle of an interrogation!”

“I want to see my son.” Moira said, walking right past the officer into the room.

After some posturing on everyone’s parts, Lance left until Oliver’s lawyer arrived.

“I want Laurel to represent me.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Walter warned him.

“Her father’s the arresting officer.” Felicity pointed out.

“I know, and he hates me because of what happened to Sara. He raised her to do the right thing. I’m hoping she can talk him out of all of this.” He said.

Moira and Walter both tried to argue with him, but Felicity recognized the look in his eyes. She’d seen it several times in the last five years. This wasn’t a whim. It was a calculated and well thought out move, one he knew would manipulate the situation in his favor.

He insisted that either Laurel represent him or he’d represent himself. she somehow learned about his threat and showed up in time for his bail hearing. The D.A. argued that Oliver’s wealth made him a flight risk and he shouldn’t be released. Laurel argued that his wealth shouldn’t play a part in the judge’s decision and that there were ways to minimize the imagined risk. The judge ordered Oliver wear an ankle monitor until his trial.

When Oliver went home, neither Felicity or the twins were there. When he asked Thea, she just said Felicity had wanted to get them out of the house for a little bit. While a police officer was fitting him with the ankle monitor, Oliver came up with an idea. He’d throw a huge party and during the party, the Hood, and his accomplice, would be seen somewhere across town. He made the arrangements before getting a call from Laurel. Detective Lance and the DA wanted to meet with him. They went to the meeting, the DA offered Oliver a deal, but he rejected it. He already had a plan in the works to clear his name.

 

Oliver arrived back at the mansion and was immediately pulled aside by Felicity. She opened her mouth to talk, but he beat her to it.

“Are the girls okay? Do they know what’s going on? Did they ask you?”

“They know.”

“You told them I was arrested for being a vigilante?”

“No, they _know_.” She emphasized.

“How?”

“Let’s go ask them, shall we?” Felicity led Oliver to the twins’ playroom. “Girls, look who’s back?” Both girls ran over to their father and hugged him. They were excited he was back. “Sara, Shado, can you tell Daddy what you told me?”

“We know you’re the man in the hood who stopped the mean men who took me and you and Tommy.” Sara said.

“And mommy’s the nice lady who showed up at Ms. Laurel’s.” Shado said.

“How long have you known?”

“Since the mean men took us. I ‘membered from when you made the scary man on the island go away.” Sara admitted. “We thought it was a secret, so we didn’t tell Mommy or Mr. Digg or Aunt Speedy or-“

“It’s okay, girls, you aren’t in trouble.” Oliver said. “And it is a secret, so you did the right thing.”

“I think your dad needs to talk to Mr. Diggle, so why don’t we go get you girls ready for the party?”

“Party?”

“Yeah. Mommy and Daddy are having a party, and you girls get to come.” Felicity said. “But you need to put on your costumes, okay?”

“They’re coming?” Oliver asked her.

“I said they could for a little bit. We’ll put them to bed before any real partying happens.”  She assured him.

He was about to say something when Donna came into the room. “Oh, my god. I cannot believe the things they’re saying about you. How are you holding up? How are the twins? Do they even know what’s going on?”

“We’re fine. The twins are fine. We’re all just hoping this will be over soon.” Felicity said.

“I can’t believe the nerve of that detective. I understand he’s in pain, but that doesn’t justify- You, the Hood, really?”

“Mom, its fine.”

 

The party was just starting when Laurel arrived to talk to Oliver. There were a few things she wanted to talk with him about before his trial. She also wanted to discuss what he’d said during his polygraph test. He’d revealed some pretty troubling things that she thought warranted further discussion.

Raisa told her Oliver was in his room so she headed upstairs. She opened the door without knocking and saw Oliver and Felicity kissing. It wasn’t just a quick peck either.

“Oh, this is awkward.” Felicity said when she noticed Laurel and pulled back from Oliver.

“No, its- I should’ve-“ Laurel started to say.

“No, it is. Because you’re Oliver’s lawyer and you’re also his ex-girlfriend, while I’m the mother of his children and his current girlfriend and that’s just the beginning of the reasons why all three of us being in the same room is weird. The only way it could be more weird was if-” The twins came running into the room as she said that. “Great, I jinxed it.”

“Mommy! Look!” Sara said.

“Sara and I are twins!” Shado said. The girls were wearing matching police officer costumes.

“You’re always twins. You’ll always be twins.”

“But we don’t look the same.” Sara argued.

“No, but you were in Mommy’s tummy at the same time, and that means you’re twins.” Felicity explained. She took both girls’ hands. “Let leave Daddy and Ms. Lance alone to talk.”

 

Felicity and the twins stayed at the party for an hour. When it was time for the girls to go to sleep, she went upstairs and put them to bed. With them asleep, she snuck out of the house to meet Digg. As dozens of people were watching Oliver run wild at his party, the Hood and his partner, who the papers had started calling Artemis, broke up a weapons buy across town.

Oliver retreated to his room to check on things with Diggle and Felicity. While he was in his room, a hitman dressed like a waiter attacked him and tried to kill him. He held the guy off for a little bit before Quentin showed up and shot him. With a vigilante sighting across town, Lance was forced to drop the charges against Oliver.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and the twins make a discovery and someone asks Felicity for a favor. In the past, an escape attempt is made.

The week after Oliver was cleared of being the Hood, and by extension Felicity was cleared of being Artemis, was quiet all things considered. The Hood and Artemis took down two more names on Robert’s list as well as a family of bank robbers. Digg had pointed out that the people on the list weren’t the only people poisoning Starling, and Felicity backed him up, leaving Oliver outvoted about what to do.

Oliver’s arrest had the downside of renewing public interest in Oliver, Felicity, the twins and their experience on the island, leading to days of being bothered by reporters every time they left the house. In the midst of everything, Oliver announced to his family that he finally figured out what he wanted to do with his life. He wanted to open up a nightclub in his father’s old steel factory. With some help from Felicity, he had already started renovating when he told Moira, Thea and Walter about it.

Exactly one week after the party, the twins ran up to Oliver who was sitting in the living room. He looked up and saw a familiar look on their faces. It was the expression they wore when they wanted something. They knew he couldn’t say no to them when they gave him that look. He appreciated all of the traits they’d inherited from their mother, but them inheriting Felicity’s intellect was troublesome at times.

“Hi Daddy.” Sara said.

“Hi. What are you two up to?”

“Nothin’.” Shado said.  “Can we go outside?”

“Yeah.” He said, looking at them quizzically when they just stood there. “What’s wrong?”

“We can’t go outside without a grown-up.”

“Who said that?”

“Grandma Moira. We went to play outside and didn’t tell her and she was really mad.”

“I don’t think she was mad, I think she was scared. She didn’t know where you were.” Oliver reasoned. He closed the book he’d been reading and stood up. “Let’s go.”

Oliver led them out to the back patio. As soon as they got outside, Sara and Shado shared a look before Sara hit Oliver lightly on the arm and yelled, “Tag! You’re It!”

The twins then ran off giggling. Oliver chased after them at a leisurely pace. He didn’t want to move too slowly and bore them, but going too fast wouldn’t make it as fun. He chased them for a few minutes before tagging Sara. They played Tag for about an hour before Shado became It and declared she didn’t want to play anymore.

“Ok, what should we do?” He asked.

“I wanna climb!” Both girls liked climbing trees on the island. They hadn’t gotten a chance to climb any trees since coming back and were starting to miss it.

“Me too!”

“Ok, I know the perfect tree.” He said, taking both girls’ hands and heading down a hill in the backyard. Growing up, there’d been this big oak tree that he, Tommy and Thea loved climbing. He knew it was still there, since he could see it from one of the windows.

They arrived at the tree and Oliver stopped when he saw there were two stones embedded in the ground near the tree.

“Daddy, what are those?” Sara asked, pointing to the two stones.

“I- they’re-“

“They’re gravestones.” Thea said, walking up behind them. She was still dressed in her uniform, having just gotten back from school. “When someone dies and we bury them, we put a special stone in the ground so we can visit them. This is your dad’s,” she pointed to one of them, “and this one belongs to your Grandpa Robert.”

“But Daddy’s alive.”

“And Grandpa is buried on the island.”

“We didn’t know your daddy was alive, but we wanted to remember him.” Thea told them. “And the island is a really long way to have to go to visit grandpa.”

“Oh.” Sara said.

 

* * *

 

**Lian Yu- Five Years Ago**

Oliver grunted as Slade hit him with the escrima stick again. Felicity had watched as he grew more and more frustrated as the training session wore on.  When Slade told Oliver to attack again, he exploded. He shouted that the exercise was a waste of time and knowing how to fight with sticks wouldn’t help since Fyers’ men had guns. Slade responded by handing Oliver one of his guns and telling him to stick it in his face. Oliver did it, and Slade disarmed him before stalking away.

“That was dumb.” Felicity remarked from where she sat. “How’d you think that was gonna end?”

“I don’t know. I just- I wanna get off this island.”

“And you think I don’t? Or that he doesn’t?” She stood up and picked up one of the sticks. “Let’s go again.”

“I’m not-“

“We’re wasting time. You need to train and he’s off….punching trees or whatever he does to calm down. I might not be Australian special forces, but you need someone to spar against.” She reasoned. “Let’s go.”

 They were still fighting when Slade came back. He observed them for several minutes, noticing that Oliver’s form had improved slightly from earlier.

“So, you decided to continue without me.”

“He needed to train and I didn’t wanna get rusty.” She reasoned. “You wanna step back in, be my guest.”

 

The day came when the supply plane was going to land. Slade woke them up early and rushed them out of the wrecked plane. They crept through the jungle, avoiding the armed men for the most part, until Oliver accidentally stepped on a landmine.

“Um, guys?”

“Don’t.” Felicity whispered harshly when he tried to move his leg.

Slade bent down to look at it. “Stay very still.”

They heard movement coming towards them, so Felicity and Slade ran off, leaving Oliver behind. Thinking quickly, Oliver put on the black balaclava he’d taken when he stole this uniform. Two of Fyers’ men approached him and started questioning him, thinking he was one of them. He said he’d gotten separated from his team and then stepped on the mine. One was about to ask him another question when Slade appeared behind them and killed both men. He shoved one of the bodies onto the landmine, which pushed Oliver off of it and to safety.

They continued on their way, arriving an hour after dark. The trio dispatched the armed guards easily and were able to intercept the transmission. Slade mentioned calling in an airstrike to wipe of Fyers whole operation when they got to the mainland, which panicked Oliver. He took off, wanting to save Yao Fei. Felicity saw Oliver leave and turned to Slade.

“Where’s he going?”

“To find Yao Fei.”

“We need to- I’m going after him.”

“Why?”

“Because if he’s not on that plane and I am, the entire world is gonna ask what happened to him. And I don’t wanna be on Moira Queen’s bad side.” She said as she gathered her things and went off after Oliver.

She didn’t know exactly what happened, but by the time Felicity got to Fyers’ camp, Oliver had been captured. She ducked behind a vehicle and watched as he was led to a circle of men, with his hands bound. Oliver yelled something about Fyers wanting him to fight again, but a man responded.

“This isn’t a fight. It’s an execution.”

She leaned forward, but the movement caught someone’s attention and two soldiers went over to check it out. Thinking on her feet, she dropped her gun, hid her knives and let them find her. They dragged her over to the circle.

“And who might you be? The other survivor of the shipwreck, perhaps.” She didn’t respond. “It doesn’t matter. When he’s dead, you’ll be next.”

Slade’s ex-partner, Billy Wintergreen, moved forward to attack. Then, there was an explosion in the distance. Using the distraction, Felicity broke free from the man who was holding her and hit him across the face. She cut Oliver’s bonds right as Slade approached the group. He started to engage with Billy while Oliver ran for cover. Two guards tried to grab Felicity, and she fought them off. She took one of their guns and shot both of them. They were on the ground groaning, so she knew she didn’t kill them. Slade killed Billy, only for Fyers to shoot him in the arm as soon as he stood up.

Felicity and Oliver shot in his direction while dragging Slade to safety. They were leaving the camp when the plane flew over them. They stopped to watch, only to run into one of their enemies a moment later. The masked man shoved a gun in Oliver’s face. Like Slade had shown him days earlier, Oliver wrangled the gun away from him and hit the man across the face, knocking him out. He tossed the gun away only for Felicity to pick it up and shoot the man.

“Felicity!”

“He wants to kill us. They all want to kill us. And if someone’s trying to kill you, you try to kill them back.” She said before walking away. “Wake up. They don’t who you are. We’re a wrinkle in their plans and they just wanna get paid.”

“Paid?”

“Fyers is a mercenary. He’s here because someone paid him to be here.” Slade said. “Let’s hope my fireworks show made his benefactor rethink things.” 

* * *

 

**Starling City-Present**

Felicity was just getting back from a meeting when she arrived at her cubicle to see Walter standing there. He looked unsure about something.

“Hi, Walter.”

“Good afternoon Felicity. I was wondering if I could ask for your help on something.”

“Sure, anything.”

“I was looking through the accounts yesterday and noticed a substantial sum of money was missing.” He said, handing over some papers.

“And you’d like me to find it.”

“Yes. You were a state mathematics champion if I’m not mistaken.”

“3-time state math champion.” She said proudly.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to Moira either. Not until you’ve found out what happened at least.” He said before leaving her desk.

Felicity cracked her back, grabbed some coffee and started looking over the papers Walter had given her. “What the heck is Tempest?” she wondered aloud.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity investigates a mystery, the twins tell their mom about their discovery and trying to have lunch with Moira leads to a discovery.

Felicity cracked her back, grabbed some coffee and started looking over the papers Walter had given her. “What the heck is Tempest?” she wondered aloud. She searched for the company’s name, but yielded no results. Then, she supposed it might be a subsidiary or a small corporation that might’ve been acquired by QC over the years. Still, nothing.

When the search had no results, she decided to follow the money. Tracking down wire transfers usually wasn’t difficult for Felicity, but the exact amount that was missing, 2.2 million dollars, went in and out of several different accounts before finally winding up at an account in Starling. Looking through the accounts history, the only money leaving the account seemed to be going towards renting a warehouse in town. Calling it a day, Felicity wrote down the address in case she needed it later, shut down her computer and went home.

She arrived at the mansion and was surprised the twins didn’t come rushing out to greet her as soon as she returned. She was excited they were becoming less dependent on her, but a tiny part of her was starting to miss their excitement when she came home. Figuring they were upstairs playing, Felicity headed to their playroom only to find it empty. She checked their bedroom, which was also empty. Panicking, she ran downstairs hoping someone was home and could tell her where her children were. She was about to yell for Oliver or Thea or Raisa when she heard giggling coming from one of the sitting rooms.

She walked into the room, where she found Sara and Shado had ‘tackled’ Oliver and were tickling him. Seeing that they were okay, she immediately calmed down. “Hi girls.”

“Mommy’s home!” They both yelled as they ran towards her.

She hugged both of them. “Did you girls have fun today?”

“Yes. Daddy plated Tag with us and then we climbed trees and-“ Sara started to say.

“Guess what we found Mommy?” Shado cut in.

“Not another cat I hope.”

“No, Oscar’s the only one we found. I don’t think he’d like another one.”

“Why not?”

“Cause he’s grumpy, like Daddy.”

“I’m not grumpy.” Oliver defended.

“Yeah, you kinda are.” Felicity said. “What did you find?”

“We found cool rocks with Daddy and Grandpa’s names on them.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. Auntie Thea said what they were for, but it didn’t make sense. Daddy’s alive and Grandpa’s on the island.”

“Well, your aunt and grandma, they didn’t know where Daddy and Grandpa were, so they put the rocks here.”

“She said that too.” Sara said. “Why don’t you have a cool rock, Mommy?”

“Grandma Donna didn’t think I was dead, she just thought I was far away, so she didn’t get me one.” She explained. “And I think we should get rid of Daddy’s rock too, since he’s alive.”

Sara wanted to tell her mom all about the other things they did that day, and the conversation about Oliver’s grave ended there. Felicity didn’t get a chance to tell him about Tempest that night.

 

The next day, Oliver and the twins were meeting Moira for lunch. She was leaving Queen Consolidated while talking to a dark haired man in a suit. Oliver was just getting out of the car to greet her when someone pulled up on a motorcycle and opened fire at Moira and the man. The man was hit multiple times in the chest. Oliver raced over to his mother to make sure she wasn’t hit.

She was startled and hit her head, but wasn’t shot. Knowing his mother was okay, he took off after the motorcyclist on foot. He almost caught up with them, but he wasn’t quite fast enough. He made his way back to the car where the twins were crying. They were scared and upset that he’d run after the shooter and left them alone. Moira also wanted to know why he’d left his children alone. He said he wanted to get the license plate number. He helped Moira into the car and drove her to the hospital to get checked out.

The twins sat in the hospital room while Dr. Lamb looked Moira over and diagnosed her with a concussion. As the doctor left the room, Detective Lance and his partner came in to ask Moira and Oliver what happened.

“Could you tell us what happened?”

Sara and Shado both started bawling. “The- the man, he- he drove up and he- he tried to shoot Grandma and the other man, he- he fell on the ground and didn’t move and-.”

“it was scary! And loud and-!”

Oliver bent down to their level. “Hey, hey. It’s okay. grandma’s fine, see?”

“But the doctor, he said Grandma has a con- concushion.”

“Concussion.” He corrected absentmindedly. “Her head hurts a little bit, but she’s okay.”

“But- what if he comes back?”

“He wasn’t trying to hurt your grandmother.” Lance said softly. “The man she was standing with, he wasn’t a nice man. The person wanted to hurt him.”

“But he hurt her! What if he comes back? I don’t want Grandma to get hurt!” The girls descended into crying again.

“Girls, come here.” Moira said, opening her arms. Both of them ran over and hugged her. “I’m okay, see?” They wiped their tears away and nodded.

The detectives left just as Thea and Felicity arrived. They fussed over Moira for a while before Oliver and Felicity thought it was time to go.

“C’mon, let’s go home so Grandma can get some rest.”

“No!” Shado said.

“We wanna stay!” Sara agreed.

“I’m gonna stay for a few more hours,” Thea cut in, “I can watch them.”

“Oh, I don’t wanna trouble-“ Felicity started to say.

“I’m gonna be here anyway and they don’t seem to wanna leave.” She pointed out. “Go, we’ll be fine.”

Oliver and Felicity walked over to the twins who were still clinging to Moira. “I want you to be good for your aunt and your grandma, okay? No running off or causing trouble.”

“Ok, Daddy.”

They left the hospital and headed for the foundry. Looking into the dead man’s history, Felicity discovered he was linked with the Bertinellis, a notorious crime family. This was the third person connected with the family to die recently. Oliver wanted to get close to the family to try and figure out who was targeting them but Felicity was able to talk him out of it. He settled for having Felicity keep a close eye on all of the family’s associates using her tech and programs. John told them the Bertinellis had started harassing anyone who paid them protection money, looking to get more. He guessed they thought another crime family was behind what was going on and they were preparing for war.

While they were waiting for her programs to run, Felicity told Oliver about Walter asking her for a favor and what she’d discovered about Tempest. She hadn’t gone to the warehouse the company was renting yet, but told Oliver something about the situation made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

Right around the time Felicity was leaving to relieve Thea at the hospital, reports came in about a known Bertinelli associate threatening a couple who owned an Italian restaurant nearby. Felicity went to the hospital while Oliver went to help the couple.

Oliver arrived at the restaurant, Russo’s, as Frank Bertinelli’s right hand man Nick Salvati was threatening to break the owner’s fingers if he didn’t give them more money. He intervened to stop anyone from getting hurt. Shortly after Oliver stormed into the building, the motorcyclist who shot at Moira crashed through the front door and started shooting at Bertinelli’s men. After they ran off, Oliver began fighting the helmeted assailant. They fought hand-to-hand for several moment before Oliver smashed the visor of the helmet and tore it off.

A dark-haired woman around his age glared at him before running off. Oliver only was her face for a few seconds, but he instantly knew who she was. Helena Bertinelli, Frank’s daughter. Why was she killing people who worked for her family?


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Artemis and the Hood try to stop the Huntress while Felicity inches closer to the truth about Tempest

Felicity got a call from Oliver after she put the twins to bed and headed to the foundry. He hadn’t said a lot during the call, just telling her that he learned something important. She arrived at the lair and found him looking into space.

“Helena Bertinelli.”

“What?”

“The shooter who almost hit my mom, the person who’s been killing Frank Bertinelli’s men, it’s Helena.”

“Helena, his daughter? Why- And you’re sure?”

“She showed up to Russo’s just after I did, except she wanted to kill Frank’s right hand man instead of help the owners. He got away, we fought and her helmet came off. Helena’s the killer we’ve been looking for.”

“Ok, but why would she do that? It’s her family. She had to either go really crazy or they had to do something really bad for her to resort to that.”

“I don’t know. I don’t know if it even matters.” He said. “She’s killing people. She could’ve killed my mother-“

“Let’s sit on this for now.” Felicity suggested. “It’s late. It’s been a long day. We don’t know enough about what’s going on. And there’s something else I need to talk to you about.”

“Tempest?”

“Yes. My survival instinct is going crazy. I’m telling you, something important is in that warehouse.” She told him. “And we need to find out what that something is.”

“We will, after this situation with Helena is over.”

 

While Oliver and Felicity tried to figure out how to stop Helena or work out why she was doing this, she took down two more members of her father’s crime family. Donna came to town the day after Moira was attacked to check on her. Despite their differences, she didn’t have any ill will towards Moira. She was flabbergasted by the way some people in Starling behaved.

“I mean, who shoots someone in the middle of the afternoon?” She asked aloud after the excitement of her visiting died down. “That’s beyond rude.”

“Well, the person who did it is clearly not a nice or polite person.” Felicity responded. She knew her mother meant well, but she was focusing on completely the wrong thing here.

“So it could happen again?” Sara asked, sounding scared.

“No, honey, it won’t. Nothing bad’s gonna happen, okay? I promise.” Felicity reassured her daughters. “Thanks a lot for bringing up, Mom.”

“I wasn’t-“ Donna hadn’t meant to upset the girls or make them afraid.

“I know, but they’re three and half. It was very scary for them.” She pointed out. She then got a text from Oliver and made an excuse to leave, having the girls stay at the mansion with Moira and Donna.

 

Felicity reached the foundry and found John and Oliver already there working. It seemed like the two men were at odds about something, likely to do with the case. “What’s you find?”

“I think I know why she’s doing this.” Oliver said. “Helena was engaged to a man named Michael Staton. Three years ago, he was found dead in his apartment. No one ever took credit, but it looked like a mob hit. I’d guess that she blames her father.”

“You think he had him killed.”

“Maybe, or maybe he was targeted because of his connection to Helena.” John offered. “And she can’t see the difference.”

“If that were the case, why wouldn’t she go after the other crime family?” Oliver countered.

“Look, it doesn’t matter how responsible Frank is or who killed Michael. What does matter is stopping her. How do we do that?” Felicity said.

“Bertinelli’s men don’t do a great job of hiding their connections. Figuring out who might be next should be easy. She’s targeting her family. I’d guess her father’s last, which means she needs to get to whoever is right below her father.”

Felicity started typing something into her computer. “I think I might know who. That right-hand man she tried to kill at the restaurant, Nick Salvati.”

“What about him?”

“Well, his cell phone shows he’s at an abandoned building right now. We find him, maybe we’ll find her.” She said.

“I like the way you think.” Oliver remarked, heading over to where his hood was laying.

Felicity changed into her own costume and they headed out. When they reached the building, the signal from Salvati’s phone said he was still there. It was decided that Oliver would go in first and try to talk Helena down while Felicity stayed back in case she was needed.

 

Oliver crept into the building and saw that Helena was dressed in a black motorcycle outfit with purple details and a black domino mask. She had Salvati tied to a chair and was aiming a crossbow at him. She was interrogating him, wanting answers about her fiance’s death. He admitted to killing Michael, on Frank’s orders, and she tensed, getting ready to fire the weapon.

“Stop!” Oliver shouted, stepping out of his hiding place. “Helena, enough.”

She turned away from Salvati to face Oliver fully. “You know my name?”

“And why you’re doing this. Revenge won’t bring him back.”

“It’s not revenge; its justice.” She fired a bolt into her captive’s chest. “I’m cleaning up this city, just like you.” She insisted as she fired a bolt at Oliver. The bolt hit him in the side, causing him to fall. “You know, we should really be working together.”

Felicity jumped down from where she was hidden. “Sorry, he’s taken.” She swung at Helena.

The dark-haired woman blocked the blow and they began fighting. Helena was driven by anger, she wasn’t done avenging Michael, she hadn’t destroyed her father’s empire yet. Frank was still alive. Felicity, on the other hand, was even angrier than Helena. In her quest for revenge, she hurt many innocent people. She could’ve hurt Sara and Shado. Helena might be a woman scorned, but Felicity was an angry and overprotective mother. She didn’t think she was a violent person, but the thought that the twins could’ve gotten hurt made her want to hurt Helena. Badly.

When Helena was bleeding and struggling to remain standing, Oliver called out. “Artemis, that’s enough.”

Felicity’s anger subsided and she fired an ensnarement arrow at Helena, so she couldn’t escape before the police arrived. The two archers left the building, but not before Oliver expressed concern about Frank Bertinelli. Even if he wasn’t on Robert’s list, it seemed like a bad idea to leave him roaming free around the city.

Felicity had compiled a bunch of evidence against Frank while looking for Helena and sent it to the FBI. Nick Salvati’s body was found by the SCPD. Helena had somehow managed to cut through the cords restraining her and escape. By the time she went to look for her father, he’d already been arrested, so she left the city, waiting for a chance to kill her father.

 

Oliver and Felicity changed back into their street clothes and headed back to the mansion. They searched the house, wondering where the girls were. Finally, they decided to knock on Moira’s door to ask if she knew where they were. They opened the door to see Sara, Shado, Thea and Moira curled up on Moira’s bed with Donna sitting in a chair nearby. They were watching something on the TV, but the adults looked over when the door opened.

“Hey, what are you guys watching?” Felicity asked moving closer.

“Peter Pan.” Thea said. “I realized earlier that the girls haven’t seen any Disney movies and I wasn’t sure if they’d like the princesses and the Lion King seemed a little heavy, so we picked Peter Pan.”

“Mommy, the fairy’s just like you!” Sara shouted pointing to Tinkerbell on the screen.

“Does that mean Daddy’s Peter Pan?”

“No, he’s too grumpy.” Shado told her.

“I’m not grumpy.” He argued.

They watched the rest of the movie with the girls before putting them to bed. As Oliver and Felicity got ready for bed themselves, Felicity brought up Tempest and the warehouse again.

“Walter’s gonna want an explanation soon.”

“So just tell him about Tempest.” Oliver shrugged. “After we check out the warehouse tomorrow.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins try something new and Oliver and Felicity make a discovery.

For the last week, Oliver and Felicity had been arguing about something. Felicity wanted the twins to start going to daycare, Oliver didn’t. She thought they needed to learn how to interact with other kids and get used to being away from their parents. They were three and half, soon they’d be old enough for preschool and then kindergarten. Oliver didn’t think they were ready for that.

“We’ve been back for weeks. The girls are less jumpy, less clingy and they’re getting used to being around other people than us. This is the perfect time.” Felicity argued.

“They-“

“They need to learn how to be around other kids and how to make friends. I don’t want Sara’s only friend to be Shado and vice versa. This isn’t Lian Yu, they don’t need us in the way they used to.” She reasoned.

“I’m their father. I don’t want them to not need me.” Oliver’s trepidation made sense. He saw very little of them when they were newborns because of the threat Ivo, and then Slade, posed. Then, he was in Hong Kong for a year. When he finally talked Waller into sending him back to Lian Yu, they were already starting to walk and didn’t recognize him. He was worried if he so much as blinked, they’d been adults.

“They’ll always need you, but they don’t need us to be with them 24/7. They need to start being independent. Daycare’s a good first step.”

“What if they don’t like it?”

“The daycare’s at Queen Consolidated, so if they don’t like it, neither of us will be far away.”

“Fine. I don’t like it, but fine.” He agreed.

The twins’ first day at daycare was the day Oliver and Felicity decided to look into the Tempest warehouse. They dropped the girls off at QC’s daycare and told them to have fun. The twins were hesitant at first, but then another little girl walked up to them and asked if they wanted to play with her. They agreed and wandered off, their parents forgotten.

Before they went to the warehouse, Felicity made a pit stop at Walter’s office. She told him that they tracked the money to a company called Tempest but lied and said she didn’t know anything about it but was looking into it. Walter told her to drop the matter, saying he’d discussed it with Moira. Walter didn’t believe Moira, and Felicity could tell that Walter didn’t believe Moira, even though he wanted to. Since she already knew about the warehouse, she didn’t argue with Walter or ask him what explanation she’d given him. Instead, Felicity excused herself and went down to the lobby where Oliver was waiting.

 

They drove to the warehouse Tempest had purchased. There didn’t seem to be any physical security guarding it, but there was a keypad on the front door, preventing anyone from breaking in. unfortunately for whoever wanted to keep people out, Felicity ate that kind of tech for breakfast and was easily able to hack the lock.

“That’s weird.” She remarked.

“What is?” Oliver asked.

“The passcode. It’s ‘Robert’.”

“Robert, as in my dad?”

“Yeah. I mean, we know the money was spent by your mom, so its not the worst password, but it’s also not great. It would’ve been my third guess for her password, after your name and Thea’s.” She remarked as he pushed the door open.

They stepped into the warehouse and froze. They couldn’t believe what they were looking at.

“Is that-?”

“The Queen’s Gambit, yes.” Felicity responded. The lights were off, the yacht was on support beams and it had been broken in two, but she would never forget what the boat looked like. The day she got on that boat was the day her whole life changed. Staying on the upper level, she began walking around the boat. “Your mother must’ve had it salvaged.”

“This doesn’t explain why she wouldn’t tell Walter.”

“Well, I’m sure the experience wouldn’t have been easy to talk-“ Felicity stopped herself when she reached the other side of the wrecked yacht. “Oliver, come look at this.”

On the rear port side of the Gambit, there was a large black mark. Felicity saw it and knew what it meant, but before she could tell Oliver her thoughts, she needed him to see it. He ran over to her and his eyes fell to where she was looking.

“That looks an awful lot like a burn mark. The kind you’d get if there was a bomb or some other kind of explosion on board.”

“That’s because it is.” She said, jumping over the railing and landing on the ground. Oliver followed soon after. “See these marks, they indicate that the explosion happened on the other side of this piece of fiberglass and expelled outwards.”

“Could that have been caused by the storm?” He asked. “Lightning maybe?” He hoped the answer would be yes because of what it would mean otherwise.

“No, you only get those kinda marks with a bomb.” She said quietly. “The Gambit didn’t sink during a storm, it was sabotaged.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins have their first day of daycare, Oliver and Felicity deal with a startling revelation and in the past, they meet someone new.

“The Gambit didn’t sink during a storm, it was sabotaged.” Felicity said. She told him that and then she did something he hadn’t witnessed her do since the twins were infants. She started crying. Sobbing loudly. After a few moments, the tears stopped and Felicity looked at the boat with a furious look on her face. He hadn’t seen that look since someone tried to take the twins from her. “Someone did this to us.”

“What do-?”

“The yacht was sabotaged. Its sinking wasn’t some random act of God. Someone planned it. Which means someone almost killed us, they tried to kill us, they got us marooned on the worst island on Earth. We almost died so many times, Sara did die. We were hunted, we were tortured and all of it happened because someone put a bomb on the Gambit. They stole five years of our lives.” She shouted.

“Why would someone sabotage the Queen’s Gambit?”

“To kill your father. The crew was random, Sara and I weren’t important enough to kill and you were just some entitled rich kid. Robert Queen was the CEO of a multibillion dollar company. Killing him would have a drastic effect on the company. Or maybe he knew something. His last words would make sense in that context.”

“His last words were to survive.” Oliver reminded her.

“Before that, he said he thought he had more time. He talked about how he didn’t build the city, he failed it. And his last words to me were apologizing for ‘dragging me into this’. I never thought he was apologizing for bringing me to the conference.”

“You think he realized it was planned in the life raft.”

“I think a seasoned mariner like your father wouldn’t have sailed into a storm if he didn’t think he’d survive. I’m not saying he knew, I’m saying he might’ve suspected.”

“So, what happens now? More importantly, what do we tell Walter?”

“Nothing about this discovery. He told me he wanted me to drop it, so I’ll let him think I did. And I know what I’m gonna do.” She spun on her heel and walked out of the building. She needed to hit something, now.

* * *

 

**LIAN YU 2007**

Following their failed attempt to get off of the island, Felicity and Oliver managed to get Slade back to the wrecked plane. The older man had gotten injured during the fight and his wounds needed to be tended to.

“I need you to tie me to the table.” Slade told Oliver.

“Um, why?” He asked as he did what Slade told him to do.

“Because if he’s in pain, he might lash out and attack you.” Felicity answered.

“Ok, what now?”

“Now, you’re gonna go get some water.” She told him. “I’ll need it to clean the wound.”

He gave her a weird look, but took the bucket and left. “Water? Really?” Slade asked.

“Well, I figure I can get the bullet out a lot easier than he can. And less messy too.” She reasoned as she began to sterilize her knife. Oliver came back right as Felicity was starting to sew the wound up. She thanked him for the water after explaining she’d sent him away so he wouldn’t be in the way. He got a little offended, but she waved him off. “How good are you at sewing?”

“I’m not. Isn’t that- not to be sexist, but that’s a chick thing.” Oliver answered.

“It’s really not, because you need to sew to close a wound sometimes. Come over here, learn how to survive.” She beckoned him over to where she was working.

“Isn’t that what he’s been teaching me?”

“He’s teaching you to be a soldier, I’m teaching you how to be a survivor.” She clarified.

Thanks to Felicity’s quick action and first aid knowledge, Slade’s injury hurt but it didn’t get infected. After missing the plane, no one knew what to do next. While Slade recovered, Oliver and Felicity got to work rebuilding the radio. The wires were too damaged for them to send a signal out, but they were able to receive transmissions. By listening to Fyer’s transmissions, they learned he had some kind of weapon he was planning to use. After scoping out his camp, they learned Fyers had a missile launcher. Felicity kept watch while Slade and Oliver snuck closer to try and destroy it. They were planting the charges and running low on time when Oliver opened the weapon up and stole the circuit board. Blowing it up would stop Fyers, but taking the circuit board would give them leverage.

Oliver radioed Fyers, willing to trade the circuit board for a way off of the island. Fyers agreed to the terms. Before going to the designated spot, Oliver hid the device in a fallen tree. The meet-up ended in a shoot-out, with Yao Fei’s daughter running off with them.  In the chaos, Felicity got separated from Oliver, Slade and the mystery woman. They returned to the tree where Oliver had hidden the circuit board. It was gone.

“Now his missile launcher is fully operational.” He told Oliver.

“And he was never gonna let us off the island.”

“Of course he wasn’t gonna help you. He couldn’t chance you warning the mainland what he has planned.” Yao Fei’s daughter told them.

“She speaks English.” Oliver said in an annoyed tone. “Well, guess what, neither of us knows what he has planned.”

“I do.” She said.

She was about to explain when there was a rustle in the forest. Felicity stepped out into the clearing. “Ok, good. We’re all here. And we picked up someone along the way.”

“Fyers has the circuit board.” Slade told her. “The weapon’s operational.”

“No, it isn’t.” Felicity said. “You forget, I work with circuit boards all the time. And I wanted insurance in case this was a trap.”

“What did you do?”

“It broke my heart, but I fried the CPU and damaged some of the wires. Fyers could fix it, but he’d need someone as technologically skilled as me to do it.” Felicity said.

They went back to the plane and Yao Fei’s daughter Shado told them what Fyers plan was.

* * *

 

**Starling City-Present**

The twins’ first day at daycare was going well so far. A little girl named Melody ran up to them as soon as they came into the room and asked if they wanted to play. They followed her over to a corner of the room where there was a bin of toys. Shado asked if they could play with the blocks, so the trio decided to build a tower.

They were deciding how to build it when Melody said something. “You were on TV. My mommy said you were on an island.”

“Yeah, with Mommy and Daddy.” Sara answered.

“What was it like?”

“Big.” Shado answered.

A few of the other kids heard them talking and walked over to where they were.

“Was it nice?”

“Did it have a beach?”

“Was it fun?”

“Were there dolphins?”

“No, but there was a shark. It tried to eat Daddy, but he fought it.” Sara told them. Most of their eyes widened in disbelief.

“You weren’t really on an island.” A little boy said. “My daddy said your mommy and daddy just ran away and didn’t wanna come back.”

Shado didn’t like his attitude. “Yes we were! It was big, and scary and there were mean people who-“

“No, you weren’t.” The boy repeated.

When Sara saw that her sister looked ready to cry, she stood up and pushed the little boy away from her. He fell and started yelling for the teacher. A redheaded woman rushed over and asked what happened.

“She pushed me!” He pointed to Sara.

“He said the island wasn’t real and was making Shado cry.” The blonde three-year-old defended.

The teacher told the boy to go sit in the corner and made Sara sit in another corner in time out. As she was being led away, Sara muttered something in Chinese. She’d heard both Felicity and Oliver say it when they were mad. When the adult asked Shado what her sister had said, she shrugged. She knew Sara wasn’t supposed to say that, but she didn’t know that the phrase meant ‘fuck this shit’.

Shado and Melody stopped building their tower until Sara could come out of time-out. Sara spent her whole time in time-out glaring at the boy who was mean to her sister.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity works off some aggression, the twins sneak out of daycare and meet someone new.

Felicity spent an hour or so beating up a training dummy before she was calm enough to go back to work. She was angry, so angry about what they’d discovered that she didn’t know what to do. it had been a long time since she’d felt anger that strong. She now had even more questions, and Moira was the easiest person to go to for answers, but she didn’t want to do that just yet. She didn’t know what Moira knew and didn’t want to risk tipping her, or anyone else, off.

“I should get back to work.” She told Oliver.

“No, you shouldn’t. You’re furious right now, and you’ve got every right to be. The last thing you should do is go back to work and act like nothing happened.”

“I’m gonna do that. I’m gonna go back to work, and while I’m there, I’m gonna see what else I can find on Tempest. What else we might not know about.” She said. “And I wanna see the girls. I need to- if the Gambit hadn’t been sabotaged, they wouldn’t be here. That makes them one of the only two good things that happened.”

“What’s the second one?”

“You.” She leaned over and kissed him. The kiss deepened and they started to move towards the mats.

“Really you two?” Digg asked as he came down the stairs. “I know you’re together, but we work down here.”

“Sorry, kinda got carried away.” Felicity said as she untangled herself from Oliver.

“I take it your trip to the warehouse went well.” John said.

“No, it didn’t. The remains of the Gambit are being held there. It was sabotaged.”

“Sabotaged?”

“Yeah, someone planted a bomb on the Gambit, which made it sink. I know explosive residue when I see it.” Felicity said. “We came here because I needed to hit something really badly.”

 

When Sara was done in time-out, the teacher gathered all of the kids and told them it was art time. The twins had never done arts and crafts before, so they weren’t quite sure what they were going to do. The other kids gathered around the small table and started grabbing crayons and colored pencils.

“What are you gonna make?” Melody asked them.

“I dunno.” Shado shrugged.

“Maybe draw something for your mommy and daddy.” She suggested.

Sara and Shado both grabbed some crayons and started drawing.  Shado decided she was going to draw her family, while Sara knew what she was drawing, but didn’t want to tell anyone what it was. When her sister asked, she said it was a surprise. When art time was over and the drawings were done, the twins decided they wanted to show Felicity right now.

The teacher saw them walking towards the door and stopped them. “Where are you going?”

“To find our mommy. I wanna show her my picture.” Shado explained.

“Your mom will be back to pick you up in a few hours and you can show her then.”

“But we wanna show her now!”

“She’s working right now. You can’t interrupt her. Why don’t you two go sit down on the carpet? It’s almost story time.” The woman told them as she herded them over to where the other children were.

 

Sara and Shado grumbled, but sat down on the carpet. The teacher took out a story book and made a big show out of letting the other kids see it. When they settled down, she opened it and began to read. On the first page, a little boy raised his hand and asked a question. While the teacher was answering him, the twins saw an opening and snuck out of the room.

They found the elevator, but didn’t know which floor to go to. Sara thought they should just go up, so she hit the highest button she could reach, which took them to the 37th floor. They couldn’t find her on that floor, but when they were looking around, Shado remembered that Moira was on the top floor, so they decided to go up there. They went to the top floor, wanting to find out where their mother was.

They crept into Walter’s office where Moira was talking to a dark-haired man in a suit that they didn’t know. She didn’t notice them, but he did and after a few seconds of them standing behind Moira, he spoke up.

“I’m sorry, Moira.” He looked slightly behind her. “Are you girls lost?”

Moira spun around and saw them standing there. “’Girls, what’re you doing up here?”

“We’re not lost, we wanted to talk to Grandma.” Sara said.

“Where’s mommy? We wanna show her something.” Shado asked. “Who are you?”

“My name’s Malcolm. I’m a friend of your grandmother’s.” He answered as he bent down. “I think you have something behind your ear.” He reached behind Shado’s ear and pulled a coin out. It was a magic trick he learned years ago and kids seemed to enjoy it. “Ah, there it is.”

She giggled at the trick. “Girls, why aren’t you at daycare?” Moira asked.

“We left. We wanna show Mommy something, but we don’t know where she is.” Sara repeated.

“What did you want to show her?”

“Our drawings.” Shado said. “I hope she likes mine.”

“Let’s go find her, shall we?” Moira suggested. The twins appearing gave her an excuse to get away from Malcolm. He’d shown up wanting to know about the warehouse where the Gambit was hidden. He’d said someone had figured out where it was. “We’ll talk later, Malcolm.”

“No need. I will take care of that thing we were just talking about.” He told her as he left the office.

“His trick was cool, but I don’t like him.” Sara said.

“Why don’t you like him?” Her grandmother asked.

“When he talked, you looked scared. I don’t want you to be scared.” She explained as she took Moira’s hand.

She didn’t know what to say to that and led the girls to the elevator. “After you show your mother your drawings, I’ll take you back to daycare. I’m sure the staff are worried about where you are.”

“I don’t care. The teacher’s dumb.”

“Why do you say that?”

“A little boy was mean to Shado, so I pushed him and she made me sit in the corner.”

“That wasn’t a nice thing to do.” Moira told her as the elevator reached the IT floor.

The twins ran out of the elevator, yelling for their mother. Felicity heard the commotion and stepped out of her office. “Girls, what are you doing up here?”

“They snuck out of daycare to find you.”

“We wanna show you our drawings!” Shado said excitedly.  She was holding her drawing behind her back so that no one else could see it.

“’You drew something for me? Let me see it.” Felicity said. 

Shado went first and handed the paper to Felicity. “I drawed our family. That’s you and Daddy,” she pointed to a blonde stick figure wearing a blue dress with glasses and a male stick figure with a green shirt and spiky brown hair, “me and Sara,” she pointed to two smaller people, one with brown hair and one with blonde hair, “Aunty Speedy, Grandma Moira, Grandpa Walter, Grandma Donna.” She pointed to other stick figures. Thea was a little shorter than the Felicity-figure and had brown hair. Moira and Walter were holding hands. Donna had blonde hair like Felicity, but no glasses. She also had two big circles drawn on her chest, which Felicity guessed were breasts.

“And is this Oscar?” Felicity asked, pointing to an orange blob with legs in the picture.

“Yeah. I’m not good at drawing him though.”

“I think you did great!  Why don’t we bring this home to show Daddy? I think he’d like it too.” She suggested. Shado nodded. Now, it was Sara’s turn. “What did you make?”

“I drawed us on the island. See? That’s you and Daddy before he got his hair cut. And me and Shado.” There were two tall stick figures and two smaller ones in the middle of the picture. Oliver had long hair and a scraggly beard while Felicity’s hair was brown. All around the little family were trees. “And that’s the place where we slept.” In the very background, Sara had drawn what looked like Slade’s crashed plane, where they lived for the last few months on the island. “Do you like it?”

“I love it. You both did a really good job.” She told them.

“Since you showed her your pictures, its time to go back downstairs.” Moira told the girls. “Your mother needs to go back to work.”

“I’ll see you both in a few hours, okay?” She promised. The twins hugged her and said goodbye before leaving with Moira.

Felicity picked the girls up from daycare a few hours later. The teacher pulled her aside to discuss what happened with Sara earlier. The woman was probably surprised when Felicity didn’t seem overly concerned about her behavior. Sara was very protective of her sister and neither of them were used to being around other children. Something like this was bound to happen at some point.

 

Since Oliver and Felicity were both angry at their discovery, John suggested that they not go patrolling that night. Oliver and Felicity didn’t kill unless they had to or their children were threatened, but the soldier was worried they might get a little too enthusiastic when fighting the guilty. Strangely, Tommy called Oliver up a few minutes later and asked if they wanted to go clubbing.

“Yay. I get to follow you two around a club to make sure nothing happens.” Diggle deadpanned. He was still being paid to be Oliver’s bodyguard, but the irony of the situation was starting to weigh on him. He also just didn’t like clubs.

“What are you talking about? You have the night off, remember? You needed to organize your sock drawer.” Felicity said. She liked John and didn’t want to make him come with them.

“Oh, yeah. That’s right.” He said, taking the out.

After some prodding from Tommy, they agreed to go to Poison, Max Fuller’s club. Oliver wasn’t thrilled with the idea because he was certain that Fuller hated him, but eventually he let himself get talked into it. They got into the club and were led into the VIP section. Felicity left to go to the bathroom and while she was gone, Max Fuller approached him with two bouncers. They ‘escorted’ Oliver to a less busy, and visible, part of the club.

As soon as the curtain closed behind them, Max punched him in the face. Tommy got in between Oliver and Max.

“Back off Merlyn, this isn’t your problem.”

“If you wanna get to him, you gotta go through me.” Tommy told them. He turned around to Oliver. “Wow, they’re probably gonna go through me.”

One of the bouncer shoved Tommy, who retaliated by punching him. A fight broke out and pretty soon, both billionaires were on the ground, being kicked. Fuller watched this happen with a smile, until Felicity cold-cocked him across the face. When she noticed Oliver was nowhere to be seen, she went looked for him. Laurel, who’d followed after Tommy, rounded the corner shortly after Felicity.

Felicity punched Fuller in the face before moving forward to deal with the bouncers. Max moved to hit her when she was walking away, but Laurel grabbed his arm and knocked him onto the floor.

“Is this over Max? Or are you gonna have your boys pound on us next?” Laurel asked him.

The club owner got up from the floor and spoke. “You four, consider yourselves banned for life.” The bouncers started to back away, but Felicity still punched the one closest to her.

“Sorry, reflex.” She said, not even pretending to be apologetic.

“You guys okay?” Laurel asked.

“Yeah. Where’d you learn how to do that?” Tommy asked.

“Cop dad, remember? Made me take self-defense.”

“And you?” He directed at Felicity.

“Uncle’s a Navy SEAL.” She explained. “Let’s get out of here. This place sucks.”

“Uncle Danny saves my ass again.” Oliver remarked.

“Again?” Tommy asked him.

“I wasn’t exactly equipped to survive when the Gambit sank. Thankfully, Felicity’s uncle is a survivalist and passed some of his knowledge along to her. I never would’ve made it without her.” He explained.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins learn about Christmas, Walter inadvertently gives Felicity something vital and the Dark Archer makes an appearance.

The night after Oliver, Felicity and Tommy went to Poison, the city woke up to the news that Adam Hunt had been killed by a mysterious archer. The police were blaming the Hood and Artemis for the murder, but once Felicity hacked into the SCPD, she noticed the initial report, written by Detective Lance, indicated that it was a copycat archer. Lance either didn’t have the proof or wasn’t believed and the murders were pinned on them.

Felicity got the twins ready and went into work, promising Oliver that they’d get to the bottom of what was going on that night. After dropping the twins at daycare, Felicity went to her desk only to find a note telling her to go to Walter’s office as soon as possible.

 

The twins went in to daycare and were surprised to see that the room had been redecorated with lots of red and green streamers. There were drawings of snowmen, animals they didn’t recognize and an old man with a beard and rosy cheeks all around the room. The teacher had all of the kids gathered around a craft table, working on something with popsicle sticks.

“Are you excited?” Melody asked them when she saw them.

“Why are we supposed to be excited?” Shado asked.

“For Christmas! I wrote my letter to Santa last week. Did you write yours yet?”

“What’s Christmas?” Sara asked.

“Who’s Santa?” Her twin wondered.

“You don’t know who Santa is? Miss Kelly! They don’t know who Santa is. Or what Christmas is.” She yelled at the teacher.

“You girls haven’t celebrated Christmas before?” the teacher asked.

Both girls shook their heads. “We didn’t have it on the island and Mommy and Daddy didn’t tell us about it.” Sara explained.

“Christmas is when Santa comes to your house and leaves you presents. You write him a letter saying what you want and he gets things for you. But only if you’re nice. If you’re naughty, he gives you a lump of coal.” The teacher explained. “You also spend time with your family decorating a Christmas tree. Today, we’re making things to put on your tree at home.”

The other children spent the rest of the day telling the girls all about Christmas and Santa.

 

Felicity approached Walter’s office and knocked lightly on the door. He looked up and told her to come in. “I wanted to speak to you about something related to Tempest.”

“I thought you didn’t want me to dig any deeper. I dropped it, like you asked.” She rushed to explain. Felicity needed answers, but she didn’t want to reveal her hand too soon and risk tipping anyone else off.

“And I appreciate that, but I need to ask for your help once again.” He said. He reached into a drawer and pulled out a small notebook. It was identical to the notebook Oliver had found on his father’s body. “I want to know everything you can find about this notebook. Where it was made. When it was purchased. Everything.”

“Where did you get this from?” She asked.

“I found it hidden in Moira’s things.” Walter admitted.

It took all of Felicity’s self-control not to scream. This notebook was related to Tempest, the fake company Moira had invested in. The company who owned the warehouse where the sabotaged Gambit was stored. And it clearly had something to do with Robert’s list. There were too many unanswered questions, and Moira seemed to keep popping up whenever Felicity went looking for answers. She told him she’d find out what she could and left.

Felicity didn’t get much work done that day. Instead, she got to work on making the ink in the notebook appear and cataloging the list of names. Oliver’s list was incomplete because he’d burned a few pages on the island for a fire, thinking they were blank. Now, thanks to Walter’s discovery, they had a complete list. She was very anxious to tell Oliver.

 

When Felicity left Walter’s office, he called in QC’s head of security. While he had no doubt Felicity could learn more about the notebook, he also knew that there could be others working for the company who might know what was going on.

When the head of security, Josiah Hudson, came into the room, Walter pulled out a piece of paper. He’d copied the image on the inside of the notebook and enlarged it. The image looked familiar, but he wasn’t quite sure what it was of. He handed Hudson the paper.

“Does this image mean anything to you?”

“Looks like a bunch of lines to me.”

“I feel like I’ve seen it before, somewhere. I want you to look into this image.”

“’Sure thing, Mr. Steele.” He said before leaving.

Instead of going down to his office and doing as Walter asked, Hudson pulled out his phone. “Mr. Merlyn, we’ve got a problem. I think Mr. Steele knows something he shouldn’t.”

 

Felicity picked the twins up from daycare and they couldn’t wait to tell her all about the twins and Christmas. They babbled on and on about it before finally asking why they hadn’t heard of it before.

“Well, Mommy and Daddy didn’t know what day it was on the island. And Mommy doesn’t celebrate Christmas.”

“Why not?”

“Well, Christmas is a Christian holiday.” She briefly gave them the gist of what Christianity was. “Mommy isn’t Christian, I’m Jewish. So, I don’t believe the same things they do. I don’t celebrate Christmas, instead I celebrate Chanukkah. It happens every year, in December when I celebrate a miracle that happened a long, long time ago. For eight days, I celebrate and we give gifts.”

“Eight days of presents?” The girls asked with wide eyes.

“Yes.” She answered. “Now, I don’t celebrate Christmas, but your dad does. So, I think we’re gonna celebrate both, so that neither of us have to miss out.”

“That sounds fair.”

They made it back to the mansion and the twins sped off to find Oliver and tell him all about Christmas. They wanted to ask him for help writing letters to Santa. He was dutifully helping them when Shado spoke up.

“Is Mommy gonna be mad at us?”

“Why would she be mad?”

“We’re excited for Christmas, but she doesn’t celebrate it. I don’t want her to be mad or get sad.”

“She doesn’t celebrate it, but she celebrates her own holiday and I’m sure she wants you to celebrate it with her.” Oliver said.

“She told about it.” Sara said. “But, if we celebrate that, will you be sad?”

“No. No one’s gonna be sad. We’re all gonna celebrate and we’re gonna be happy because we’re together.” He told her.

“Okay. Oh, I also want a pony from Santa.” Sara said.

 

After their letters to Santa were finished, the twins ran off to play and Oliver went to find Felicity. She was in their room, staring at something in her hands. He moved around to see it and saw that it was his father’s notebook.

“I thought I left that in the foundry.”

“You did. This isn’t your father’s.” She said. “But it’s the same list.”

“What? Where did you get that?”

“Walter found it. in your mom’s stuff.” She admitted.

“Why would my mother-?”

“I don’t know. Why does your mother have the Queen’s Gambit sitting in a warehouse? Why does she have this book? Why do three of the names on this list belong to dead people?”

“Three?”

“Adam Hunt was killed by the copycat. Rob Murdoch was in a car accident. And David Drayson was supposedly killed during an armed robbery. Know what they all have in common? Their deaths happened within the last week.” She said. “That’s too much coincidence for me.”

“My mother couldn’t-“

“I’m not saying she is, I’m not saying she isn’t. I’m just saying it seems like every time we find something new about the Gambit or that notebook, she’s connected somehow.”

“And I’m sure you’ll figure out the connection.” He told her. “I’m trying to talk my family into throwing a Christmas party.”

“Holiday party.”

“Holiday party, right. You know, Sara and Shado wanted to make sure you wouldn’t be upset if they celebrated Christmas too.”

“As long as they also wanna celebrate Channukah with me, I don’t see why they shouldn’t. I mean, they’re considered Jewish, but I don’t wanna also exclude your family or faith so,-“

“I don’t know if ‘faith’ and me should be mentioned together, I stopped believing a long time ago, but I see your point.”

 

Moira walked into Malcolm Merlyn’s office and stood there with her arms crossed. “I don’t appreciate being summoned.”

“You don’t have to, but you came regardless.” He said. “I received an interesting call from Josiah Hudson. He said Walter showed him an image from the notebook. Which made me wonder how he saw that.”

“He doesn’t know anything.”

“Really? Because he showed Hudson the image mere days after someone found the warehouse where you’d hidden the remains of your husband’s yacht. That seems like more than a coincidence.”

“My copy of the list is in a box, in a locked drawer of a room no one ever goes into. There’s no way he could’ve found it.”

“I can’t take that risk.”

“Let me talk to him.” Moira reasoned.

“We’re beyond talking, Moira.” Malcolm said. “I’ll handle it.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Queen family throws a party and the Dark Archer makes an appearance.

At dinner that night, Oliver broached the topic of a holiday party. He reminded them that neither he, Felicity, nor the twins got to celebrate on the island and he’d missed it. He said he knew he was the reason they’d stopped celebrating, but now that he was home they should start again. He acknowledged that he wasn’t the brother or son they deserve but wanted to make up for lost time. He laid the guilt on a little thick, but couldn’t bring himself to care. His daughters wanted to celebrate Christmas and Chanukkah and he was going to make that happen.

Surprisingly, the first person to agree with him was his mother who, according to Thea, was the one who refused to celebrate Christmas in any form for the last five years. Oliver said he’d handle everything and they went their separate ways when the meal was over.

 

While the Queen family was having dinner, Nelson Ravich, a man who’d embezzled millions from Starling residents, was shot by an archer while coming home from work. The police arrived on the scene and, once again, placed the blame solely on the Hood and Artemis.

“This doesn’t fit his MO.” Lance argued. “Either of their MOs.”

“What do you mean?”

“Not including the incident when Oliver Queen first came back, they don’t kill. They main and wound, yeah, but killing isn’t their thing.”

“Well, I guess they’ve upgraded.” The Chief of Police said.

“Why kill him? They got him to return the money, they got what they wanted out of him. Killing him doesn’t make sense.”

“I don’t care if it makes sense. You know what? You can go. You’re off this case.”

Lance went back to the precinct. When Adam Hunt had been killed, the Hood had sent Lance a burner phone to contact him on if he needed help. He’d refused the offer point blank, but now that the chief seemed dead-set on blaming the Hood for these killings, Quentin was starting to change his mind. He picked up the phone and dialed it.

He told Oliver that he’d hidden one of the copycat archer’s arrows so that they could do their own investigation and stop the impersonator. Felicity was able to trace the arrow back to a company called Sagittarius and find the location the arrows were sent to. They both suited up and headed to the building, only to find that it had been a trap. Oliver was locked in a room with a bomb and barely managed to escape in time. They made it back to the manor just in time to be fashionably late for the party.

 

Halfway through the party, Digg approached them and told them that the copycat archer situation had escalated. Felicity turned on the TV and saw that the Dark Archer had taken five people hostage. One of the hostages was reading out a statement. The archer claimed the police lacked the willpower to do what justice demanded. He was going to execute one hostage every hour unless the Hood face him, and only the Hood. The last part made Felicity feel a little insulted.

Digg tried to convince them to sit this one out and let the police handle things, but they didn’t listen. They’d dealt with worse on the island and they were the reason these people were taken. When they got to the warehouse, the police were already there, but hadn’t been able to breach the building. The Dark Archer had booby-trapped all the exits, making it impossible to send in a SWAT team right away. They had to wait for the bomb squad.

Lance was yelling about how waiting was the worst idea he could think of, considering they only had fifteen minutes until the archer’s one-hour deadline was up when Oliver and Felicity slid into the warehouse through a window. Once inside, Felicity started to free the hostages and lead them to the roof while Oliver went looking for the archer.

Oliver went walking down a hallway in one of the lower parts of the building when he sensed someone stepping out from behind him.

“I thought I told you to come alone. I want to see which one of us is better, and I don’t need your sidekick here for that.”

Internally, Oliver laughed, knowing Felicity wouldn’t take the sidekick comment well. He continued to scowl and shouted back at the archer. “That’s why you kidnapped and nearly killed five people? A contest?”

“I knew I needed something dramatic to draw you out.” He said as he fired an arrow at Oliver.

Oliver dodged it and fired his own arrow back in return. They moved deeper into the warehouse and continued to fight. Felicity stayed with the hostages until a helicopter took them off of the roof. Once they were safe, she headed back inside to find Oliver and help him against the Dark Archer. Oliver and his opponent were evenly matched, but the other archer managed to get a lucky shot in while Oliver was jumping down from one of the rafters to retrieve his bow. The Archer then shot Oliver another time in the back. He fell to the ground and the man started kicking him in the ribs.

“I know about the list. The man who wrote it wants you dead. Your sidekick’s next.”

Felicity had snuck into the room and fired an arrow at the archer, hitting him square in the back. “Not his sidekick.”

The Dark Archer raised his bow to fire an arrow at Felicity, but Oliver pulled a fletchet out of his jacket and stabbed him in the leg before he could do so. The Archer seemed to realize he was outnumbered, kicked Oliver in the side and ran off while Felicity rushed over to help her partner.

“C’mon, we gotta get out of here. Police are gonna enter the building any second.” She told Oliver as she helped him up.

“At least this wasn’t a total waste.” He said as she helped him out of the building.

“What do you mean?”

“He said the man who wrote the list wants us dead. That means it wasn’t my father.”

“That also means there’s someone out there who’s a bigger threat than the archer.” She pointed out. “Maybe the person who sunk the Gambit. And we’re gonna find him.”

“And take him down.” He promised.

Felicity pulled out her phone and called Digg, saying they needed some help. Felicity was strong, but she couldn’t get Oliver back to the foundry unseen in this state. Oliver passed out a few moments later.

 

When he woke up, he could see he wasn’t in the foundry. “Hey, its okay. You’re okay.” Felicity told him when he jolted awake and looked panicked. “You’re in the hospital. You’ve got a collapsed lung, some broken ribs and a concussion. Digg helped clean up the evidence and brought us here. if anyone asks, you were in a motorcycle accident.”

“What about you?”

“I wasn’t hurt.” She said. “I’m gonna go get the twins, okay?” She left the room and came back in holding the twins’ hands. They both ran over to Oliver as soon as they saw him. The climbed on top of him and Felicity heard him let out a groan. “Girls, remember what I told you? Daddy has some big owies, so you need to be gentle.”

“We will Mommy.” Sara said. She shifted off of Oliver’s chest a little bit.

“Daddy, why did you get hurted?”

“I was being silly and I didn’t listen to your mom.”

“See, you should always listen to me.” Felicity said.

Moira, Thea and Walter came in a few moments later to see Oliver. They apologized for their behavior at the party before leaving Oliver to rest.

 

Walter went back to the office to get some paperwork. When he stepped into the elevator to leave, the other man stabbed him in the neck with a syringe. When Walter didn’t come home, Moira demanded a meeting with Malcolm. She was angry at him for going this far and didn’t trust that he wouldn’t hurt Walter, despite him giving her his word. She pointed out that he’d told her the same thing after Robert’s murder. He countered by reminding her that she’d had her own son and granddaughter kidnapped.

“What’s done is done.”

“No, Moira. It’s just beginning. In six months, the organization’s vision of what this city should be will be complete.”

“And you won’t feel a thing, will you? Thousands of innocent people will be dead and you’ll feel nothing.”

“That’s not true. I’ll feel a sense of accomplishment.” Malcolm said before walking away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About yesterday's news: I have no idea what to say, because the news hasn't fully processed in my brain yet.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity tries to get Oliver back in the hood, the twins make Thea panic and the mansion gets a visitor.

Six weeks after Oliver fought the Dark Archer, Oliver returned to the foundry. Felicity had been going out as Artemis at regular intervals and taking down some smaller players from the List, but Oliver hadn’t put the hood back on yet. Part of the reason Felicity went out was because she was hoping to gain some answers about the connection between names on the list or discover who wrote it. The other reason was so that Oliver’s recovery from his ‘accident’ and the Hood’s disappearance happening around the same time didn’t raise any eyebrows. There was also the chance that the Hood’s disappearance could lead to a rise in the crime rates. Two vigilantes were better than one, but one was better than none.

 

To make matters worse, Walter hadn’t come home from his pit stop at Queen Consolidated the night of Oliver’s ‘accident’. Officially, no one knew why Walter might’ve been kidnapped, but given what he’s approached Felicity about, she was pretty sure whoever wrote the list had taken Walter. She also thought she saw something in Moira’s eyes when the police questioned her about the last time she saw Walter. She expected to see fear, anger, even sadness. Felicity never expected to see the flash of relief cross Moira’s face when the detectives informed her there weren’t any witnesses to his abduction and that surveillance equipment had been shut off. Her husband was missing, presumed dead, relief was the last thing she should be feeling. Unless Walter wasn’t dead, but his disappearance was part of some bigger plan.

She made a note to dig a little further into Moira. Things weren’t adding up and the more Felicity thought about it, the more she was convinced that Moira was involved with either Walter’s disappearance, the names on the List, or both.

 

Felicity watched Oliver go through his work-out routine from her spot by her computers. Everything was going well, and he’d seemed to recover his strength back, but when he went to shoot the tennis balls he threw, he missed them by a wide margin. Felicity knew this wasn’t about his aim. His aim was fine, the problem was his head.

John came in and told them that his contacts at the FBI and Interpol had struck out on finding Walter. So had Anatoli when Oliver called to ask him for a favor.

“What do you wanna do?”

“I don’t know. if even the Bratva can’t find him-“

“I wasn’t talking about Walter.” Digg said as he picked up Robert’s notebook. “You’re back to your fighting weight. And last I checked, there were a few more names to cross off in this book.”

“They aren’t going anywhere. With Walter missing, my family needs me.” He said, walking towards the stairs.

“Oliv-“

“Let him go John.” Felicity said unhappily.

“I thought fulfilling Robert’s dying wish was the one goal you both had.”

“Well, the other goal was to make sure my kids didn’t die on that island but yeah, it was.” She said.

“So, why didn’t you say anything or try to remind him of that?”

“Because I know it won’t work. He- Oliver needs to remember why he’s doing this, and his reasons aren’t as cut and dry as ‘they were my dad’s last words’. He’s gonna realize that soon enough, until then, I’ll keep a handle on things.”

Felicity patrolled for a little while before heading home. The next morning, the city woke up to the news that a firefighter had been killed in the line of duty. While tragic, nothing about the death seemed suspicious.

Felicity went to work as normal, and Oliver claimed to have a meeting about opening his new club, Verdant, over the foundry. Over the last six weeks, Oliver had doubled-down on his plans to open a club over the foundry, claiming it was a good cover for his activities. The renovations were done, and his plan was to open at the end of the week. The twins didn’t go to daycare today, because Moira had fallen into a depression about Walter and Thea thought having them around might bring her out of it. The girls were excited to spend all day with their grandmother and aunt.  

Oliver’s meeting with the health inspector had just wrapped up when his Arrow-phone rang. He was sure Lance would’ve handed it over to the SCPD tech by now to analyze and was surprised anyone would be calling him. He was even more surprised that Laurel was on the other end, claiming the firefighter’s death wasn’t a result of the blaze. He said he’d look into the fire, but didn’t promise anything other than that. He called her back a few hours later, giving her all the information he had about other suspicious deaths and the connections between the victims. They’d all worked at the same fire station years ago.

Felicity got off of work and headed over to Verdant. Since Oliver had stopped being the Hood, he’d transferred his obsession with crossing names off of Robert’s list to obsessing about the club’s opening. She knew he was aware he was projecting, but hadn’t mentioned it.

“You wanna explain to me why you’re avoiding suiting up? I promise not to tell John.”

“My family needs me.”

“Yeah, I don’t buy that. because what we really need is Walter back, and meticulously checking the inventory or doing sit-ups for hours isn’t helping get him back.” She pointed out. “And I’ve watched you training. The problem isn’t your shoulder or your lungs. Its your head.”

“Yes, the other archer got inside my head. I- when we were in Lian Yu, I wasn’t worried about dying, as long as it kept you and the twins safe. But its different now. He almost killed me, and if he had, you would’ve been next. The twins would’ve been alone. And every time I pick up my bow, I think about what would happen if you and the girls lost me. Or to Thea or my mom.”

“So, instead of having something worth dying for, now you have something to live for.” She said. “That doesn’t sound like a bad thing.”

He didn’t respond other than to ask Felicity if she was ready to go home. Oliver didn’t want to admit it, but Felicity had a very good point with what she was saying. His family were his reason to live, not his excuse not to die. They drove to the mansion in silence and went inside.

Felicity was shedding her jacket when Thea walked into the foyer.

“Sara? Shado?” She asked worriedly before noticing Oliver and Felicity standing there. “Oh, you guys are home.”

“Yeah. Where are the girls?”

“About that, I kinda…..I don’t know. They were coloring and then they said they wanted to play hide and seek, I said yes and told them to go hide and now….I can’t find them.”

“But they’re in the house?”

“Yeah.” The teenager admitted.

“Ok. You and Felicity go that way. I’ll got this way.” Oliver said.

 

Moira was sitting at her vanity, applying some anti-wrinkle cream to her face. She was reaching over for a makeup sponge when she saw the door to her wardrobe shift slightly. She wrote it off as her mind playing tricks on her and went back to what she was doing. Then, the door moved again. She thought she saw something move inside of it.

She stood up slowly and walked towards the piece of furniture. She hadn’t seen anyone connected to Tempest or the Undertaking in six weeks, but she knew there was a chance Malcolm had sent someone to watch her. Someone had broken into the house and was now hiding in her bedroom. She didn’t want to tip whoever was hiding off that she knew they were there, so she crept over to the wardrobe slowly before yanking the door open.

“Aw! Grandma, you weren’t supposed to find me!” Sara yelled, pouting and crossing her arms. “Auntie Speedy was.”

Moira’s heart-rate leveled out and then she spoke. “Why are you hiding in here?”

“We’re playing hide and seek.” She said. “But you found me and I need to find a new place.” She crawled out of the wardrobe and headed towards the door. “Sorry if I scared you, grandma.” She said before walking into the hallway.

“There you are!” Thea said as soon as she stepped into the hall.

“Not fair. You didn’t find me, grandma did.” She argued. “And Mommy’s helping you. You cheated!”

“I’ve been looking for you for three hours and I was worried.” Thea said.

“Three hours huh? Someone’s very good at hiding.” Felicity said, picking her daughter up.

She knew why the twins were so good at hiding. On the island, whenever there was a threat nearby, Felicity told the girls to go hide by asking them if they wanted to play hide and seek. That way, she didn’t have to worry about someone taking the twins or them seeing her fight, and possibly kill, the attackers. The twins usually heard their mother fight ‘the bad men’, but knew they weren’t supposed to leave their hiding places. It hadn’t occurred to her to explain that in hide and seek, they were supposed to hide, but not so well that they couldn’t be found.

 

Oliver left the twins playroom and into their bedroom, trying to find his daughter. Felicity had texted him that they’d found Sara, so he needed to find Shado. Their room appeared to be empty, so he left it and crossed the hallway and went into his and Felicity’s room. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he could feel that he wasn’t alone. He turned his head and saw a small hand move near the bed. Feeling a little playful, Oliver made a show of checking all over the room, everywhere except the bed.

“I wonder where Shado could be?” He said as he walked toward the closet. “Maybe in here! No, not here.” He repeated the same thing while searching the en suite bathroom, behind the curtains, under his desk and by his dresser. He walked back to the door and opened it. “I guess she isn’t in here.” He closed the door, but didn’t leave the room.

A few seconds later, Shado crawled out from under the bed. “Ah, gotcha!” Oliver said as he picked her up.

“Daddy! You tricked me!” She complained.

“I’m sorry. Let’s go see if your mom or aunt Thea found Sara.” he said as he put her back down.

She held his hand as they walked back towards the front door. They found a pouting Sara standing in between Thea and Felicity. She’d been having so much fun but then Moira found her and ruined it.

“Oh, here comes the other hide and seek champion.” Felicity remarked. “Where was she?”

“Hiding under our bed.”

“No, she wasn’t. I checked there. That was like the second place I looked.” Thea said.

“I hid in the cabinet by the potty and then after you left Mommy and Daddy’s room, I went under the bed.” Shado explained. “Where was Sara?”

“Hiding in grandma’s closet.”

 

Another firefighter was killed that night. Felicity did some more digging into the deaths and realized all of the dead firemen had worked at the same station and one of their teammates had been killed during a fire several years ago. Their fallen friend’s body was never found, which led Felicity to think that maybe the fireman, Garfield Lynns, hadn’t died in the blaze like they thought.

In an effort to learn more about Lynns and the mystery surrounding the killings, Oliver announced that Verdant was going to open a night early to host a fundraiser for the fire department. Tommy, who’d been helping Oliver with his nightclub plans, was surprisingly on board with the idea and helped spread awareness.

The benefit was going well, and Felicity had just gotten the fire chief to start telling her about Lynns and the fire that supposedly killed him, when several of the banners began to burn. A ring of fire appeared to come out of nowhere and encircle where Felicity and the chief were standing. She looked over and saw a man dressed like a firefighter walk through the flames. He removed his helmet and Felicity knew that it was Lynns. He’d been badly burned in the fire, half of his face was scarred, and yelled that everything that had happened to him was the fire chief’s fault. He was going to kill the entire squad as revenge for what happened to him.

When the fire started to encircle her. Felicity knocked a table over to put out some of the flames. She couldn’t stop Lynns as Felicity Smoak, and she couldn’t get down to the foundry because the fire was in the way.

Lynns doused the chief in the same accelerant he used to kill the other firefighters. He pulled out a lighter and lit it, prepared to throw it on the other man. While the lighter was in mid-air, Oliver fired an arrow and shot it away from both men before yelling for the chief to run. He and Lynns began fighting.

“I’m not afraid to die.”

“I know. You’re afraid to live.”

“Let us help you.” Felicity said, appearing near Oliver.

“Thanks, but I’m already burned.” He said, turning around. As they both shouted for him to stop, he walked into the flames and let himself burn to death.

The Hood’s reappearance alongside Artemis made the news that night. They were both behind hailed as heroes. When John caught up with them after the fires had been put out and the crowd dispersed, Oliver said it was time for them to get back to work. Felicity gave both men a knowing smirk before leaving.

 

The morning after the fire, Felicity, Oliver and the twins were coming down the stairs to head to breakfast when there was a knock at the door. Since they were closer than Raisa or any of the security team, Felicity went to open the door.

“Good morn- Uncle Danny?” She said, surprised.

“Hi Felicity.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity's uncle comes for a visit and meets Oliver and the twins for the first time. How will it go?

The morning after the fire, Felicity, Oliver and the twins were coming down the stairs to head to breakfast when there was a knock at the door. Since they were closer than Raisa or any of the security team, Felicity went to open the door.

“Good morn- Uncle Danny?” She said, surprised.

“Hi Felicity.” The man said. “Why do you look so surprised? Did you think I’d miss your birthday?” Donna had arrived the day earlier because Felicity's birthday was in two days and she wanted to make her first birthday post-island special and memorable. The small family already knew it was going to be special because this was the first birthday, they could actually celebrate in five years.

“No, its just- other than when I called you from the hospital, I haven’t spoke to you in…. well, five years.” She chuckled a little at the end out of nervousness.

“Can I come in?” He asked, reminding her that he was still standing on the porch.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” She said, stepping out of the way.

“Felicity, the girls are- who’s this?” Oliver asked walking over to her. He hadn’t noticed Felicity had answered the door until he couldn’t see her in his peripheral vision any longer.

“You must be Oliver.” Danny said, holding a hand out. “Daniel Smoak.”

“Oliver Queen.” The two men shook hands. Danny used a little more force than was necessary but it didn’t faze Oliver. “Wait, Daniel as in Felicity’s Uncle Danny?”

“Yup.” Felicity said, “You know you two can let go of each other’s hands, right?”

They realized they were still shaking hands and stopped. “Thank you.” Oliver said after several seconds.

“For what?” The older man asked.

“The skills you taught Felicity saved both of our lives. We wouldn’t have made it home if she didn’t know some of those things. So, thank you.”

“Daddy! We want pancakes!” Sara yelled as she ran up to her parents. She then saw Felicity’s uncle and hid behind Oliver’s leg. She didn’t know who he was and got a little scared. Her sister didn’t want to gain Danny’s attention and just hid behind her father. “Who’s that?”

Daniel Smoak was on the older side, but he was still intimidating. His head was completely shaved. His nose had clearly been broken a few times and, despite his age, he had a muscular physique. On top of that, he was glaring at Oliver, which made him even scarier. To the twins, he didn’t look very nice and reminded them of one of the ‘mean men’ from the island.

“This is Mommy’s uncle Danny.” Oliver explained. “Say hi.”

Both girls leaned out from behind him and stared at the man, but neither of them spoke. They threw Oliver matching ‘are you sure’ looks. Danny didn’t seem surprised by this reaction and bent down to their level.

“Hi. You must be Sara. Your grandmother told me all about you. And that means you’re Shado, right?” he asked the girls.

“How do you know Grandma?” Shado asked. She still had a death grip on Oliver’s pants.

“Your grandma Donna is my younger sister.” He explained. “I’ve known your mommy since she was little like you two.”

“Really?” Sara asked, with her eyes wide.

“Why doesn’t he tell you all about it while we have some pancakes?” Felicity asked. She was hungry and didn’t want to spend all morning in the foyer.

The twins agreed and rushed towards the kitchen, trusting that the adults would follow.

 

They entered the kitchen to see that Moira, Thea and Donna were already in the room. The women looked up when they entered the kitchen. Donna stood and rushed over to Danny to say hello. Unsure if the other two knew what was going on, Felicity turned to Moira and Thea and started to talk.

“So, I don't know if you've met, but this is my uncle Danny.”

“We've met.” Moira said in a polite, but not very happy tone. Felicity guessed that they'd met shortly after the Gambit sank, and like Donna’s problems with Moira, Danny wasn't her biggest fan.

“Mommy, you said we'd have pancakes!” Shado yelled, reminding everyone about why they were there.

Oliver moved to the fridge and took out the ingredients needed to make the girls the breakfast they were promised. The adults sat in the room awkwardly unsure of what to do here. Donna was happy to see her brother, as was Felicity, but the Queens weren't sure what, if anything, they should say.

“You knew mommy when she was little?” Sara asked Danny.

“Yes. I was there when she was born.” He answered.

“What was she like?”

“You both remind me a lot of her. Full of energy and curious about the world.” Danny answered. “I've missed her a lot for the last few years when she was on that island with you and your father.”

“I missed you too.” Felicity said.

He smiled at her before turning to Oliver. “So, Oliver, tell me about yourself.”

“What would you like to know?” He asked as he flipped the pancakes over.

“Let's start with what Felicity taught you on the island.”

“Pretty much every survival skill I had. Other than ‘don't set yourself on fire’ I didn't know anything about how to survive away from civilization.” He admitted.

“She ever teach your how to kill and skin an animal?” Danny asked him. He was trying to intimidate Oliver, which everyone realized as soon as he asked that. Felicity could skin animals and Danny was the one who taught her how to do that, so he should be scared of Danny.

“It's not hard. First, you trap the animal so it's easy to catch. Then, you kill it, Mommy usually hit it in the head really hard. You take a really sharp knife while it's still warm and you cut from the throat down to where it's butt is and then-” Sara explained.

“Girls, that's a little gross and you shouldn't talk about it while people are eating.” Felicity said. Thea and Moira looked ready to vomit while Donna just seemed sad that the girls had seen her kill animals.

“You let them see you doing that?”

“It was a dangerous place and it didn't become less deadly after they learned to walk. I was scared if they were out of my sight for a single second, I wouldn't be able to find them again.” She justified.

Everyone at in silence, unsure of how they were supposed to respond.

“I have to get to school.” Thea announced, right as Moira claimed she had to get to a meeting. Donna asked the girls if they wanted to play and left her room with them.

Felicity crossed her arms and glared at her uncle. “Why did you do that? Why would you ask him a question like that over breakfast and in front of his family?”

“Felicity-,”

“No, he shouldn't have asked that or tried to intimidate you with his whole ‘I can skin you’ schtick.” She told Oliver before turning back to her uncle. “He's not to blame for what happened.”

“You never should've been on that boat.”

“Maybe not, but you can't change what happened. And if I hadn't, I wouldn't have my daughters, so don't stand there and tell me that I should hate him. Or try and convince Oliver he isn't good enough for me or something.”


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity has a few choice words for her uncle, and on Lian Yu, Oliver and Felicity learn what Fyers is really up to.

**Starling- Present**

Felicity told her uncle off about his threats towards Oliver and moved to leave the room. Oliver moved to follow her, but Danny stopped him.

“I'll go.”

“I don't think that's the best idea.” Oliver said.

“I've known her her whole life.”

“The Felicity Smoak who boarded the Gambit isn't the same woman who came back. Just like I'm not the same Oliver.” He responded. “I think I know her a little better than you do.”

Oliver pushed past Danny and followed Felicity out of the room. He found her staring out of the window, looking out over the backyard. She stilled when he entered the room but relaxed when she realized Oliver had followed her and not Danny.

“I'm sorry he did that. Made your mom and sister hear that.”

“Don't be. They had to know that we had to do some certain things to survive even if they didn't wanna think about it.” He said. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I just- I wanted him to like you. I really- you know about my dad. I haven't seen him in nearly 20 years so I don't care what he thinks but Danny, his opinion matters to me.”

“I'm sorry, I know you were looking forward to seeing him again.” Felicity talked more about her uncle while they were on Lian Yu than she did anyone else, including her mother.

“I'm not the Felicity they lost, and I hate being reminded of that. I wanted to survive, I needed to survive, and now that we're back, no one really wants to admit that we’re different now.”

Oliver knew nothing he could say would help her, so he settled for hugging Felicity and hoping that would be enough for now. Their private moment was interrupted when a throat cleared behind them. They turned to see Danny standing there.

“Can I talk to you for a moment?”

Felicity took a deep breath. “Yeah.” She turned to Oliver. “Can you make sure the twins aren't driving my mom up the walls?”

Oliver nodded and went to find Donna and the twins.

“I'm not going to apologize for what I said.”

“Really? You don't feel guilty for asking Oliver questions you knew would humiliate him in front of his family? Questions that make not only him, but also me, look like sociopaths because we did what we had to do to survive. You know, I was so excited for you to meet him. I wanted you to get to know him, but you showed up already having decided to hate him. He didn't do anything to you.”

“No, he didnt. But I don't think you understand what it was like when the Gambit sank.”

“I don't know what it was like? I lived on a deserted island for five years. I thought I was gonna die. I had to give birth on an island in the middle nowhere with no doctors, no pain killers, just me and Oliver. Don't tell me that it was hard for you.”

“You don't know what it was like here. You and your mother are my only family. One day I woke up and you were missing. I had to support your mother when you went missing. When the Queen family tried to have you declared dead and we had to fight Moira on that, I was there. I sat next to your mother when his mother offered her several million dollars because she felt bad for us. Like money was going to bring you back or make this all okay. The yacht was missing, the search was called off and Moira Queen wanted to get in front of the story about QC’s intern who died in the wreck alongside her son and husband. It was like she didn't even care about you or even her son being gone, just how the company looked.” Danny said. “Then, after five long years, five years of getting sporadic calls from your mother who came up with a new theory about how you were alive, you came back. You came back with Oliver Queen and two little girls and a haunted look in your eye. You came back, and just wanted to move on.”

“None of that explains why you hate Oliver so much. He didn't make me get on that boat, his father did. He didn't try to buy Mom’s silence, his mother did.”

“Because I needed to hate someone, and it couldn't be you.” Danny had never moved past his anger when Felicity went missing. He couldn’t blame Felicity, he couldn’t blame Robert Queen because he was dead, so the fault landed on Oliver.

“Moira offered Mom money?” Felicity asked when she realized what he'd just told her. The yacht sinking was an accident, why would Moira try to buy her mother off over an accident?

“Yeah. She said it was the least she could do after what happened.”

“The Gambit sank in the storm. There was nothing she could've done to stop that.” Could it be that Moira knew the Gambit was sabotaged? Was the money she offered to assuage her own guilt for letting Oliver, Sara and Felicity get on the boat, knowing it was going to sink? Felicity already had suspicions about Moira, but Danny's story made Moira look even worse than she already did.

“I guess she felt differently. Or she was worried your mother would eventually give up hope on finding you and sue the family for your death. I don't know.” He shrugged.

“Oliver isn't his mother. I taught him how to survive and he kept me from going crazy. I need you to remember that, because while you're important to me, he's kinda in my life to stay.”

* * *

 

**Lian Yu- 2007**

“A plane?” Felicity asked incredulously. “Fyers, and all the assholes who work for him, are only here to blow up a plane?”

“Well, I’m sure the motive is more complex than blowing up a plane for fun, but yes. They won’t help you because you could warn the mainland and they need my father because someone has to take the fall.” Shado said. “When he didn’t wanna cooperate, Fyers’ boss decided to fly in some motivation.”

“Meaning…?” Oliver asked.

“Wow, you’re an idiot, kid.” Slade remarked. “They kidnapped her.”

“Oh, I’m sorry that I’m not some special forces guy and I don’t really with this kinda crap on a daily basis.” He shot back.

“Is he always like this?” Shado asked Felicity.

“Sometimes. Look, Fyers’ weapon isn’t operational because I broke the circuit board. Meaning, we’ve got some time before we have to worry about the plane. I’m guessing none of the mercenaries here are tech experts, so I’m pretty much the only person who can fix it, unless his employer sends Geek Squad out here. I think we should use the time I bought us wisely. We’ve got a big fight coming.”

“Yay, more training.” Oliver muttered to himself. he was really tired of getting his ass kicked.

 

“What do you mean ‘damaged, possibly beyond repair’?” Fyers asked the engineer doing maintenance on the missile launcher.

“CPU’s fried. Some of the wires have been either cut or damaged.” The man answered. “Right now, its only use is as a paper weight.”

“So the two bumbling idiots stole the circuit board and broke it during their escape.” How was he supposed to explain this to Waller, who was paying him a lot of money to destroy the plane?

“Oh, this wasn’t an accident. Person that did this knew exactly what they were doing.” The technician asked.

“Can you fix it?”

“No.”

“What about the person who broke it?”

“Probably.”

 

Oliver and Slade were on one side of the plane fighting, while Shado and Felicity were sparring on the other. Shado was able to flip Felicity over and pin her before releasing her after a few seconds.

“Impressive moves.” Shado said as Felicity was getting back up.

“Thanks, you too. Your father teach you that?”

“Well, he wanted a son, so- where’d you learn?”

“Some of it I learned from Slade, most of it from my uncle. Never thought any of his ‘you might need this to survive’ lectures would end up coming true.” She said fondly. “You wanna go again?”

“I think one of us should relieve Oliver.” Shado replied, nodding to the scene over Felicity’s shoulder. Oliver wasn’t doing very well against Slade. 

* * *

 

**Starling- Present**

After Felicity and Danny’s talk, they went in search of the twins. They were in their playroom telling Donna all about their friends at daycare. Felicity and Oliver were both relieved that the twins were adjusting so well with the other kids.

“What else do you two like to do at daycare?” Donna asked.

“We draw pictures a lot and Mommy hangs them up.” Sara said.

Shado grabbed Donna’s hand and tried to pull her with her. “Come see!” She pulled over to a wall where Felicity had hung up all of the drawings the girls had brought home.

“I drawed this one!” Sara said, pointing to the drawing she did of them on the island. “That’s me, that’s Shado, that’s Mommy and the boy is Daddy.”

“And I did this one. That’s me, Sara, Mommy and Daddy. That’s Grandma Moiram Grandpa Walter and Aunt Thea. And this is you.” Shado said, pointing to the stick figures in order. Donna laughed a little bit at the cartoonish drawing of herself with big boobs.

“And who’s this?” Donna asked, pointing to the orange blob next to Felicity’s leg.

“That’s Oscar.”

Sara walked out of the room and walked back in a few minutes later, carrying Oscar. “Grandma, this is Oscar. We found him outside.” Sara said, introducing the cat to Donna.

“I don’t think he likes being picked up.”

“He’s grumpy a lot. Like Daddy and Uncle Danny.” Shado said.

“I’m not grumpy.” Oliver and Danny said at the exact same time.

The cat wiggled in her hands, trying to get her to put him down. “Sara, put Oscar down. I think he wants to walk on his own.” Felicity said.

“But he likes it!”

“I know, but maybe he wants to explore right now.” She could tell that Oscar was getting ready to bite or scratch Sara so she’d let go of him. “Put him down.”

“Fine.” The little girl said unhappily as she placed the cat on the ground.

The cat immediately ran off and jumped on top of one of the bookcases. It was too tall for either of the twins to reach him. He stayed up there, observing the humans, for a while.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Oliver have a talk about their families and why hers seems to hate his son much.

**Lake Tahoe- 1997**

Daniel Smoak sat there with his arms crossed as he watched Felicity try to erect a shelter. They were going on their annual camping trip. Donna always made her daughter go, because she wanted Felicity to have a father-figure in her life. Danny insisted they always go camping in the middle of nowhere because, in his own words, there were skills Felicity needed to learn in case she was ever put in a dangerous situation.

Felicity finished building her shelter and turned to face her uncle. “Ok, I think I did it.”

He stood up and went to inspect what she’d built. “Well, its not bad, but you forgot something.”

“What did I forget?”

He gestured to her shelter. “It’s the right size for you, not too small, but not too big. You did pretty good making sure you’re protected from the wind and the rain, but what about the ground?”

“What about it?”

“You need some kind of insultation on the ground so that heat can’t escape that way.” He told her. “How are you gonna fix it?”

“’Uncle Danny! What’s the point of this? I’m never gonna be in the middle of nowhere or on some deserted island.”

“You don’t know that you’re never gonna need these skills. So, pay attention.”

Grumbling, the nine-year-old got to work on fixing her shelter. When she was done, Danny took her down towards the lake to show her how to determine what plants were safe to eat. 

* * *

 

**Starling City- Present**

After a few hours at the mansion, Danny left and drove back to his hotel. Felicity’s birthday wasn’t for a few more days, but he flew in early to spend more time with her. Neither he nor Felicity were happy about the way their reunion had gone.

The twins seemed content to stay in their playroom after he left, giving Oliver and Felicity a chance to talk about a few things. Oliver wanted to see how Felicity was doing, while she was trying to come up with a way to tell him about what she’d just learned from Danny.

“Everything okay?” Oliver asked.

“You know he doesn’t hate you, right? I mean, not really.”

“Yeah. You’re important to him and he’s doing that overprotective father-figure thing.”

“That’s….not why.”

“It’s not?”

“No. He- he needed someone to be angry at when the Gambit went down. Kinda like Laurel’s ‘all I could do was scream at the ocean’ about Sara. He needed someone to hate. He couldn’t hate me, so he blamed your father. Then, when you came back and your dad didn’t-“

“He transferred that hate onto me.” He said in an understanding tone. “I get it.”

“You shouldn’t have to ‘get it’ though.” Felicity loved most things about Oliver, but one trait she didn’t like was the fact that he blamed himself for everything. “And he shouldn’t hate you for something that wasn’t your fault. You didn’t have anything to do with the yacht going down.”

“I know that but- if it hadn’t been for my father, you wouldn’t have been on the boat. You were only there because you had to present at that conference and my dad didn’t wanna fly to China.”

“If he wants to be angry at someone, he should be angry at the person that sabotaged the Gambit. Not you. I would’ve- I wish you hadn’t had to be stranded on the island with me, but I would’ve lost my mind if I was alone.”

“As I recall, you nearly did.” Oliver pointed out, remembering what state Felicity was in when he finally got back to Lian Yu after Hong Kong.

“That’s besides the point.” She said. “Danny’s anger towards your dad makes sense. His anger at your mom also makes sense. You, however, don’t deserve his treatment.”

“Your uncle doesn’t like my mom?”

“Well, your mom wanted to rush to have me declared dead because the news about the accident was effecting stock prices. So, she tried to pressure my mom into declaring me dead, which was difficult for my mom, obviously. Then, when it occurred to her that my family could sue yours for wrongful death or something, she offered my mother 10 million dollars, saying it was ‘the least she could do’.”

“I’m sure that’s not-“ Oliver wanted to believe that his mother wouldn’t try to buy Donna’s silence after such a big tragedy.

“Has your mother ever encountered a problem she didn’t think money wouldn’t solve?” Felicity countered. “It makes sense. Your mother wanted to protect your family’s reputation or whatever. My mom saw it as your mom thinking 10 million dollars would somehow replace me or make my death less painful. And given what we found in that warehouse- it didn’t surprise me all that much.”

“You don’t think my mom really knew-?”

“Well, let’s see. She had the remains of the Gambit in a warehouse. She has the same notebook your father had, the one the Dark Archer mentioned. She waited the minimum amount of time before having you, your father and if she’d gotten her way, me declared dead.” she argued. “Am I saying she definitely put the bomb on the yacht, no. But I’m pretty sure she’s connected to it.”

“She couldn’t- there’s no way she would’ve let me get on the Gambit if she knew-.” Moira’s behavior had seemed odd to him for a long time, but he wouldn’t believe that his mother would’ve let him get on the Gambit if she knew it was sabotaged. No matter what her reasons were or what she was involved in, it wasn’t possible that she’d just let her son die.

“I hope you’re right about that.”

 

While Oliver and Felicity had been arguing, the twins snuck out of their playroom and went outside. Neither parent was worried, because they could see the twins from the window of their room and knew the girls were safe.

Moira came back from her meeting and was reading a book in the sitting room when she saw movement outside. She looked up to see the twins had climbed quite high up one of the trees. She dropped the book and ran outside.

“Sara. Shado. Get down from there. You’re gonna get hurt!”

“No we won’t Grandma.” Sara said. “We’re good climbers.”

“Like Mommy.” Shado added.

“You’re getting your pretty clothes dirty.”

“So? It’s only dirt. It comes off.” Sara said.

Felicity came outside and Moira turned to her, expecting her to back her up. “It’s okay. They’ve climbed higher than that. Girls, you shouldn’t climb so high without someone here to watch you. Grandma’s worried you’re gonna get hurt. And Daddy and I told you not to go outside without a grown-up.”

“Sorry Mommy.” Both girls said.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity has a theory about the List, her birthday party takes place and it introduces Oliver and Felicity to a threat they were unaware of until now.

“Which color do you like better? This one or that one?” Donna asked as she held up two different color palettes. The palettes looked pretty similar to one another, so Felicity didn’t really have an opinion.

“It doesn’t matter. Which one do you like?” She answered.

They were getting the final details nailed down for Felicity’s birthday celebration. The party was going to be held at Verdant and most of the decisions were already made, but there were some last minute details Donna wanted to hear Felicity’s thoughts on.

“Well, I like this one, but its not my party. Which one do you like?”

“Mom, I- I don’t really care okay? I don’t care what color the plates are or where the decorations go or where you set things up. Do whatever you want.”

“It’s your birthday. It’s the first birthday in five years you’ve gotten to spend at home, and the first one where I didn’t- I just want it to be special.”

“I know that, its just- its already special. It’s special because I’m home, because I’m alive. All this other stuff, it doesn’t really matter to me.” She explained. “So, please stop worrying about the color scheme and small details.”

 

After Felicity’s conversation with Donna, she went looking for Oliver. His bike was still there, so she knew he hadn’t left the mansion, but she kinda had no idea where he was. Sara and Shado were also nowhere to be found. Three years ago, not being able to find the twins would’ve sent Felicity into a destructive spiral and she would’ve torn the entire building apart looking for them. Thankfully, she viewed Starling and the mansion as more or less completely safe and didn’t feel completely terrified about where they were. Still, she needed to find them. She opened a door in the west wing of the house, only for someone to yell.

“Bang!” Felicity immediately tensed and prepared to fight whoever was in the room. Who was here? Had they taken girls? What were they after? Was this attack connected to the List? Had they already gotten to Oliver? Before she moved, there was another yell.

“Bang!” Sara said, pointing at Felicity. “Mommy! You’re supposed to fall down!”

She looked over to see Oliver laying on his side, silently laughing. “Sara and Shado are space pirates and we’re the evil aliens trying to steal all of their candy.” He told her.

“Oh.”

“Bang!” Shado yelled.

Felicity clutched her chest. “Oh, you got me. Now I’ll never get that candy.” She said as she fell to the ground and stayed there. She closed her eyes and dramatically tilted her head to the side, pretending to be dead.

The twins yelled in excitement because they defeated the evil aliens and their spaceship was safe. Felicity cracked one eye open and saw that Oliver was watching their victory celebration in amusement. They stopped celebrating and they walked over to where their parents were.

“Mommy!” Sara whispered loudly as the same time Shado tried to rouse Oliver. Both parents stayed still, so Sara went to poke Felicity in the cheek. Lightning fast, Felicity reached a hand up and started tickling Sara.

“You might’ve beaten the evil aliens, but you didn’t defeat the Tickle Monster!” She said, as the girl started giggling.

“Mommy!”

“I must tickle, it’s my purpose!” She declared dramatically before letting out a fake evil laugh.

“Mommy’s silly, isn’t she?” Oliver asked Shado as they watched Felicity and Sara.

“You’re silly too.” Shado told him.

“I’m silly? You’re silly.” He told her. The argument turned into a tickle fight which ended when Sara, Shado and Felicity teamed up against Oliver and he surrendered.

“I think Daddy finally learned it’s not smart to call us silly, girls.” Felicity said.

They crawled off of Oliver and ran out of the room. Felicity helped Oliver up and they followed after their daughters. “Everything okay? You seemed panicked when you came into the room.”

“I was, I- I didn’t know where they were, and- it was stupid but-“

“It’s not stupid. You’re their mother.” He told her. “They thought this wing had some top-secret things hidden and wanted to know what it was. I guess its weird for them that these rooms are here but no one uses them.”

“Speaking of secrets…”

“I know you’re suspicious of my mother but-“

“That wasn’t what I was gonna say. Well, it kinda is. Your mom had a complete copy of the List.”

“I know.”

“Her name’s on it. so is your father’s.” Felicity said. “I think we might’ve been wrong.”

“Wrong? About what?”

“I don’t think it’s a list of targets, or people your dad was suspicious of. I think its more of a blackmail thing.” She said. “We know your father didn’t write the List, and I think we both get the feeling that something’s coming. Having a list of the people involved, even the people who looked the other way, it would make someone think twice about backing out.”

“Do you think that’s what happened? Dad was involved but he tried to back out?”

“I don’t know, but its possible.”

“I think we should talk about it after your party. We need something to celebrate.”

 

The day of Felicity’s birthday party finally arrived. Thea, Donna and Moira had done a fantastic job of decorating Verdant to make it look like ‘Felicity personified’ as Donna called the look. The twins had really wanted to come to their mother’s birthday, so the family decided to have the first few hours be alcohol free so that the girls could be there, then Moira would take them home when it was bedtime and the adults could have some more grown-up fun.

They played some party games, mostly because the twins insisted that standing around and talking to people was boring, which embarrassingly included ‘Pin the Junk on the Hunk’ because Donna couldn’t be dissuaded. They ate cake, the twins had a little too much and started bouncing off of the walls, and Felicity opened her presents.

Before they knew it, it was time for the twins to go home. They whined and insisted they weren’t tired, but their yawning gave them away. Moira took them home and then the party really got started. The bar opened up, booze started flowing and the adults started to have some fun. Around 11, Thea found Felicity and Oliver said she had to go. Since she was only 17, there were laws about how late she could be out. Oliver offered to have Digg drive her home or call a cab, but she turned him down since she hadn’t been drinking. A conversation with all of the waitstaff confirmed her statement. They told her to drive safe and she left the building.

A minute or so later, they heard a crash and went running outside. Thea had crashed Felicity’s car into another car. Oliver ran over to see if she was okay and saw that she was bleeding from her head. One of the guests called 9-1-1 and the police soon arrived, along with an ambulance. Thea was taken to the hospital, with Oliver and Felicity following on his bike.

Thea was checked out at the hospital and about to be discharged when two police officers came into her hospital.

“Thea Queen, you’re under arrest for driving under the influence and reckless endangerment.” One of them said.

“Under the influence? She didn’t drink anything.” Felicity argued.

“No, but she did test positive for Vertigo.”


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity face off against the Count.

“Thea Queen, you’re under arrest for driving under the influence and reckless endangerment.” A police officer said.

“Under the influence? She didn’t drink anything.” Felicity argued.

“No, but she did test positive for Vertigo.”

“Vertigo? What the frack is that?”

“It’s a drug. It’s killed over a dozen people.” He said slowly. “And Thea here had plenty of it in her system, so she’s under arrest.”

“Speedy?” Oliver asked.

“I didn’t- I didn’t take anything! Someone drugged me. Ollie?” The teenager began to panic. Yes, she got drunk or would take Oxycotin when out with her friends. Occasionally, she branched out into ecstasy, but she wasn’t going to mess with something like Vertigo. She wanted to have a good time, she didn’t want to feel like she was dying or actually die. She also definitely wasn’t going to get high at Felicity’s birthday with the twins there.

“It’s gonna be okay, Speedy. We’ll figure it out.” He said before turning to Felicity. “I’m gonna-.”

“Go with her, I know.”

“Uh, no.” One of the officers said. “You aren’t coming with us.”

“Thea is 17. Her birthday isn’t for another month. She’s legally a minor. She’s entitled to have an adult relative with her while she’s questioned. I’m gonna call her mother, but until then, her brother’s staying with her.” Felicity pointed out. One of the officers looked ready to argue. “Do you really want ‘SCPD terrorizes teenager, violets rights’ to be the top story on the morning news? The two vigilantes make you look bad enough already.”

They weren’t happy about it, but everything Felicity said was true, so they couldn’t stop Oliver from coming to the station with them. Oliver sat with Thea, while Felicity called Moira and went to Verdant to try and see how Thea had gotten drugged. No one knew it, but Verdant had an extensive security system, with cameras everywhere except the bathrooms. They were the only part of the building that wasn’t covered from multiple angles. Initially, the design was to keep anyone from getting too close to the foundry without being spotted, but it came in handy now.

She watched Thea stop at the bar to talk to Tommy, who was behind it, probably telling him she was about to leave. A man walked up next to Thea and stood there, trying to get the bartender’s attention. Felicity saw his hand move and drop something into his own drink. Thea went to pick up her cup, but grabbed the man’s instead. As soon as Thea walked away, the man also walked off and left the bar. 

Thanks to all of the cameras, Felicity was able to clearly see the man’s face and run the image through facial recognition. The man had plenty of arrests for possession of narcotics, intent to distribute and other, similar crimes. Clearly, he was a drug dealer. Felicity made a copy of the tape and took it to the SCPD, who didn’t seem to think it proved anything. Thea was released on bail, and Felicity told Oliver she had a lead.

The following night, Felicity and Oliver tracked down the drug dealer they’d seen on the tape. They cornered him and demanded to know why he’d drugged Thea. He said that she wasn’t the person he wanted to dose, but took the wrong cup and he left before anyone noticed. Neither archer believed him and started grilling him about where he got the drugs. He said someone called The Count supplied him.

The following day, Oliver and Digg disappeared for a while to meet with the Bratva to gain information about the Count while Felicity stayed home with Thea and the twins. The twins didn't fully understand what was going on, but Felicity told them that a mean person tried to get Thea in trouble and they were trying to prove that it wasn't her fault. Thea didn’t seem overly concerned about the outcome of her trial, which Felicity thought was a mistake. Her attorney might be able to make a deal with the prosecution, but there was always the chance that the judge would reject the deal. Oliver came back from the meeting with a time and place to meet the Count that night. He needed to go as Oliver Queen, but wanted Felicity to appear and interrupt the meeting as Artemis.

The meet was going well. Oliver’s cover story was that he wanted something to offer his club’s patrons. His performance was pretty convincing. Unfortunately, right when Felicity finally had a clear shot, the SCPD showed up to interrupt the meeting. The Count injected Oliver with some of his product and fled. Felicity and John were able to get him to the foundry. Oliver woke up hours later with a splitting headache.

“You’re lucky he only hit you with half a dose.” Felicity said when he woke up and claimed he was fine. “If we didn’t have those herbs from Lian Yu, you probably wouldn’t be.”

“I knew you wouldn’t let me die. He got away?”

“Yup, but he left a little something behind.” She said with a grin as she held up a syringe. “Maybe I can find out where this came from.”

“Ok, I’ll-.”

“You’ll go home. You look like crap. When I’ve got something, I’ll let you know.”

Oliver went back to the mansion only for two Vice detectives to show up soon after he arrived. One of them, his old friend McKenna Hall, saw him fleeing the buy the previous night and wanted to know why. For the first time in a long time, he told the cops something close to the truth. He asked to meet the Count so he could see his face so that he could tell the police who the Count was and help Thea. They believed him, but warned him not to get any further involved. As soon as they left, Felicity had a location. The water used to make Vertigo came from a specific part of town and the only building in that area was abandoned. She said she’d take care of the Count, but Oliver insisted on going, even though he was still facing the aftereffects of the drug and couldn’t use his bow.

Oliver made his way inside and was accosted by two of the Count’s minions. He was able to stop one, but then two more arrived and he was outnumbered. He fought them, but wasn’t faring very well. Felicity ended up shooting all of them as Oliver staggered to his feet.

“I told you that you shouldn’t have come. You can barely stand.”

“Can we fight about this later?” He growled as he went up the stairs.

They rushed into the part of the building where the lab was set up. The Count was there, waiting. Felicity focused on his armed men, leaving Oliver to handle the man himself.

“You should’ve stuck to your depraved elite. I’m merely providing people with what they want. I’m performing a public service.”

“So am I.” Oliver said as he threw a flechette at the Count, knocking the gun out of his hands. They fought and Oliver was able to gain the upper hand and stab three syringes into the Count’s chest. He pressed down on the plungers “Enjoy the fruits of your labor.”

“Freeze! Put down the syringe!” Detective Lance yelled as he ran into the room.

“He deserves this!” Oliver yelled.

Lance opened his mouth to argue, but before he could get a sound out, an arrow flew past Oliver’s head. “That’s enough.” Felicity said. “We wanted to stop him; he’s stopped. Killing him doesn’t prove anything.”

Oliver realized she was right and threw the Count at Quentin, giving he and Felicity an opening to escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a head's up, there won't be a chapter next week due to boring, real life stuff.


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver's get suspicious of Moira, Digg finds out something troubling and he decides its time to talk to his mother.

Unfortunately for Thea, the Count being caught didn’t lead to the charges against her being dropped. Felicity had a tape of someone drugging Thea, but since the man was now dead, the police couldn’t verify that she’d been drugged against her will or not. Given both Thea’s age and some support from Laurel and Quentin, the judge agreed to give Thea community service rather than force the case to go to trial or demand a harsher sentence. Thea decided to do her required service hours at CNRI after Tommy suggested it.

The day Thea’s sentence was announced, Oliver and Felicity went back to Verdant and she cornered him. “Now that Thea’s safe and the Count is…handled, we need to talk. About your mother.”

“No, we don’t. She’s innocent.”

“What makes you say that? Is ‘she’s my mother’ the only proof that you have? Because that might be enough for you, but its not enough for me.”

“You’re looking for something that isn’t there.” He said.

“She had a copy of the List. She had the wreckage from the Gambit in a warehouse. Walter asked her about the notebook and he went missing.” She pointed out. “Don’t tell me there isn’t something going on.”

“You wanna have someone to blame. I get it, but that doesn’t mean my mother is some criminal mastermind.”

“I don’t think either of you have an unbiased perspective here.” Digg said. He’d come into the lair several moments ago, but the couple were too engrossed in their argument to notice. “It’s a good thing I do.”

“You’re not spying on my mother John.”

“There’s nothing wrong with driving her around for a few days.” The ex-soldier pointed out.

 

Digg chauffeured Moira around for a few days while Oliver and Felicity dealt with a gangster, Cyrus Vanch, who’d been released on a technicality. Due to Frank Bertinelli’s arrest and China White fleeing the city, there was a power vacuum the man intended to fill. He decided the best way to earn the respect of Starling’s criminals was to kill the Hood. Oliver and Felicity stopped Vanch and his crew and left them toed up for Detective Lance and the SCPD to find.

They went home where the twins were waiting. “You and Mommy were gone forever!” Sara exclaimed when they got home.

“We were only gone for a few hours.” Oliver said.

“It felt like a long time.” Shado said. “Like Grandpa Walter.”

“What do you mean?”

“He went away and he didn’t come back. Why didn’t he come back? Does he not like us?”

“No, he likes you. He just-.” Felicity started to say. “I think a mean man took him.”

“We need to get him back!” Sara declared.

“I know. Mommy and Daddy are trying.”

 

The following evening, Oliver went to Verdant with John. Felicity had a late shift at work and the twins were playing in her office. As soon as they got into the foundry, John played Oliver a recording of a conversation Moira was having when she met with her ‘accountant’.

“I made it clear to Carl that his plans endanger the undertaking.” Moira said. “I didn’t need to make any threats.”

“Excellent. Now about that warehouse you bought. With the remains of the Queen’s Gambit.” Her companion, whose voice was distorted, said.

“I told you I knew Robert’s yacht was sabotaged.” She said.

Oliver reached over and hit ‘stop’ on the tape. “She knew.”

“I’m sorry, man. I know this can’t be easy.”

“We don’t know that she was involved.”

“We do know that she kept it a secret. Why would she do that? Why wouldn’t she tell everyone who would listen as soon as she found out? Unless she had something to hide.” Digg argued. “If anyone in my family had been on that boat and I learned it was sabotaged, I wouldn’t have stopped until everyone in this city knew it wasn’t an accident.”

“I had a feeling she was lying. I didn’t think it would be about something like this.” Oliver said. “She’s involved in something dangerous. We need to know what this undertaking is.”

“Ok, I’ll call Felicity.”

“No. She’s with the girls and I can handle this on my own. I need to have another chat with my mother.” Oliver said. “A more pointed chat.”

He changed into his hood and sped over to Queen Consolidated. His mother was working late and it wouldn’t be too difficult to find her. He crashed through the window of her office and took out her security. The two men she was meeting with ran out of the room.

“Moira Queen, you have failed this city.” She went for the phone, but he shot it off of the desk. “Stand down.”

“Please don’t kill me.”

“Do you know anything about your husband’s disappearance?” He asked. “Is Walter Steele still alive?”

“I don’t know where my husband is, I swear.”

“Do you know anything about the undertaking?” He growled. Moira looked like she was going to pick up a weapon, so he shouted at her. “I said don’t move.”

She held up a picture of Oliver and Thea. “Please, I have a family. My son, Oliver and my daughter, Thea. She’s just a teenager. And I have two granddaughters. They’re only three. Please don’t take me away from them.”

Oliver relaxed slightly, which gave Moira an opening to pull out a gun she had hidden and shoot at him. He was hit in the chest. He could hear his mother call someone for help and used the distraction to escape her office. He couldn’t believe his mother had shot him.

He was able to make it to the parking garage without being seen and he spotted a familiar car. About ten minutes later, he heard the car’s doors unlock.

“All right, let’s get you both all buckled- Oliver?” Felicity said.

“Mommy? Why is Daddy bleeding in the car?” Sara asked.

“Is he dead?” Shado asked.

“I need you to- to get me to- foundry.” Oliver said.

Felicity got both of the twins into their car seats and sped towards the old steel factory.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver's been shot, and Digg and Felicity race to save him.

Felicity made it to the foundry in record time. She told Oliver to hold tight for a second while she took the twins inside. She entered the foundry and Digg turned, startled to hear more than one set of footsteps advancing towards him.

“Why are they here?” He asked, looking at the twins.

“Daddy’s dying in Mommy’s car.” Sara said.

“He’s not dying.” She assured them. “But he is bleeding and I’m gonna need some help getting him down here. He isn’t exactly super light.” She turned to her girls. “Stay down here and don’t touch anything, okay? Mr. Diggle and I need to go get Daddy and help him get better.”

“Okay, Mommy.” They said.

John and Felicity raced upstairs and got Oliver out of Felicity’s car. They managed to get him down into the lair without attracting any attention from Verdant’s patrons.

“Talking to his mom didn’t go very well, by the looks of things.” John remarked.

“She did this?”

“He didn’t tell you?”

“No, he was bleeding from a gunshot wound, so it didn’t seem like a great time to play 20 questions.” She said. “But you’re gonna tell me.”

“After we stabilize him.” Digg said, both wanting to tend to Oliver first and needing some time to figure out what to say.

They got Oliver inside and onto a metal table. The twins saw them enter the foundry and started to move towards them. “Girls, I want you to stay over there until I say so, okay?”

Felicity took off Oliver’s jacket while Digg went to grab the medical supplies.

“It just missed the carotid. It’s a-.”

“Zone two wound, I know. this isn’t my first rodeo.” Felicity cut him off. She applied pressure to the wound. John started pulling out forcepts and a few bags of blood. “And I thought he was crazy when he insisted we keep spare bags of blood down here.”

“So did I.”

John was able to remove the bullet and Felicity started to sew up the wound. By the time Oliver was stabilized, the twins were asleep on the spare cot in the foundry. She was happy they weren’t running around and making a mess. Digg wasn’t, because they weren’t awake to distract the blonde.

“So, his mother did this. Why did he confront her as the Hood?”

“She- I drove her around for the last few days. Earlier today, she had a meeting with her accountant or so she claimed. They started discussing something called the undertaking. It sounded ominous.”

“He confronted her because of that?”

“That and she knew about the Gambit.”

Felicity’s expression grew dark. “She knew? How much did she know?”

“She knew it was sabotaged, but what I recorded didn’t give away when she found out. She could’ve found out afterwards or-.”

“Or she could’ve known all along.”

“He wanted to get some answers from her before he told you.” Digg said.

“Look how that turned out.” She said, taking a seat at her computer. “He should’ve at least told me. I would’ve appreciated the heads up.” She started typing something into her computer.

“What are you doing?”

“Hacking the SCPD. He was shot, which meant he left blood in Moira’s office, which means I have to hack in and give an order to ‘accidentally’ destroy that blood sample.” She said as she sent the order to have the sample destroyed.

John was about to say something else when Oliver’s heartrate started going crazy. The loud, irregular beeping woke the twins up who wanted to know what was going on. They started yelling, asking their mom for answers. Felicity tried to calm them down while also helping Digg get Oliver’s heart restarted. They had to use the AED, but no charge came out of the device. Felicity realized the wires were a problem and was able to fix them.

“Let’s hope we don’t have a heart attack ourselves before this is over.” Digg remarked.

“Mommy, what’s that noise?” Shado asked.

“It’s Daddy’s heartbeat.” She said. “Come over here.” she gestured to the girls who slowly walked over to where she was. “Okay, don’t touch any of the wires, but you see this screen?” Both girls nodded. “The lines going up and down, that’s Daddy’s heartbeat.”

“Why would you wanna hear it?” Sara asked.

“To make sure he’s okay. He got hurt and this tells us that he isn’t hurt too badly.”

“It’s weird.” She declared. “Why is he sleeping?”

“He was just sleepy, I guess.” Felicity answered.

“When can we have bows?” Shado asked.

“What?”

“You have a bow, Daddy has a bow. When do we get them?” She asked.

“Not for a while. You need to be grown-up. Isn’t that right, Mr. Diggle?” Felicity said.

Digg froze and got a little annoyed about being put on the spot. “Yes, bows are only for grown-ups.”

“Grown-ups get to have all the fun.” Sara pouted.

Since the twins were wide awake, they started exploring the foundry. Every few minutes, Felicity would have to get up and take something dangerous away from them. When Sara got her hands on one of Oliver’s explosive arrows, Felicity finally had enough.

“No touching Mommy or Daddy’s arrows!” She yelled. “They aren’t toys and you both could get hurt.”

“Yeah, maybe bringing two preschoolers down here wasn’t the best idea.” Digg remarked.

“They learned how to crawl and walk on an island covered in landmines. This is less stressful than that, but not by much.” She said. “I also haven’t slept in over 48 hours.”

“Go take a nap. I’ll watch him.” He told her.

She sighed and walked over to the cot to lay down. Sara and Shado walked over to her, looking sad.

“We’re sorry, Mommy.”

“Are you mad at us?”

“No, I’m sorry I yelled. I was just scared.” Felicity said. “Daddy got hurt and I didn’t want you girls to get hurt too. I know you just wanted to look, but you can’t just touch things down here without asking Mommy or Daddy.”

“Sorry we scared you.” Sara said, hugging Felicity. Shado nodded and did the same.

Felicity fell into a fitful sleep with the twins. She woke up when she heard movement nearby. Sitting up quickly, but not so quickly as to disturb her daughters, she looked around. Oliver was awake and sitting up on the metal table.

“Guess I didn’t die, again. Cool.”

“Cool? You are lucky I have two three-year-olds asleep on me or we’d be having a very loud conversation.” She hissed.

“Why’d you bring them down here?”

“You were dying. I wasn’t exactly in the headspace to drive home.” She said. “We’re gonna have a very long talk about what happened.”

Oliver grimaced. That conversation wasn’t going to be fun.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Oliver discuss his mother shooting him.

“Guess I didn’t die, again. Cool.”

“Cool? You are lucky I have two three-year-olds asleep on me or we’d be having a very loud conversation.” She hissed.

“Why’d you bring them down here?”

“You were dying. I wasn’t exactly in the headspace to drive home.” She said. “We’re gonna have a very long talk about what happened.”

Oliver grimaced. That conversation wasn’t going to be fun. “Felicity, honey-.”

“Don’t ‘honey’ me. You learned your mom might’ve had something to do with the Gambit sinking, and you didn’t tell me. You went into the field without back-up and without telling me. Our daughters saw you bleeding in the back of my car and asked me if you were dying.”

“I realize that but-.”

“You could’ve waited, you could’ve told me. but you didn’t. I thought, after the last five years, after everything, you wouldn’t have tried to do this alone. I’m supposed to be your partner.”

“You are, but I didn’t want- it was my mother. I didn’t want to involve you unless I had to. This was something I had to do alone.”

“Ok, let’s talk about what happened. What happened with Moira?”

“She mentioned something called the Undertaking when she met with whoever she met with. It sounds a lot like something that might be connected to the List. I knew she’d be at the office, so I went to confront her. I wanted to know what she knew about it, if she had something to do with Walter’s disappearance or the Gambit sinking.”

Felicity knew they could discuss those things later. There was a bigger question she needed answered. “At what point did she shoot you?”

“She was scared. I was threatening here with an arrow. She begged me not to hurt her, saying she had a family. She thought I was gonna kill her.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. We don’t kill people. Why would she think you wanted to kill her?” Felicity pointed out. With the exception of the kidnappers who took Oliver, Tommy and Sara, they hadn’t killed anyone since they came back from the island. Oliver had only killed the kidnappers because they’d nearly killed him and hurt his daughter.

“She was scared.” He repeated. “And just trying to defend herself.”

“Ok, but I hope you don’t think doesn’t absolve her of anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“She shot you because she was scared, I get that, but it doesn’t mean there isn’t something off about her. It doesn’t mean we don’t need to keep a very close eye on her. And we still don’t know what this Undertaking thing is, and she’s the only connection to it we have.”

“Fine.”

Felicity began checking Oliver’s wounds and making sure he hadn’t reopened any of his stitches. While she was looking him over, the twins both woke up.

“Daddy’s awake!” Sara exclaimed. She and Shado jumped off of the cot and ran towards where Oliver was sitting. They both hugged him tightly.

“Hi girls.”

“Do your owies still hurt?”

“A little bit.” He told them.

“Why were you bleeding in Mommy’s car?”

“I messed up and got hurt, but Mommy and Mr. Diggle helped me.”

“It was really scary.” Shado said. “Mommy and Mr. Diggle were trying to fix your owie and then you started wiggling and the ‘puter started making a loud noise and I didn’t know if you were gonna wake up.” She started getting teary eyed and it looked like she was going to cry.

Oliver picked Shado up and held her tighter. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

“Sara and Mommy were scared too.” She pointed out. Shado always felt like her sister and her parents were braver than she was. She tried really hard to be brave, but sometimes things were too scary and she couldn’t do it. When she and Sara would get into fights, sometimes she’d call Shado a ‘scaredy cat’ to hurt her feelings. She didn’t want her dad to think she was weak or scared of everything. “I wasn’t the only one.”

“I wasn’t scared!” Sara yelled. “Just because you’re a big baby, it doesn’t mean-.”

“Sara! Not okay.” Felicity said in a warning voice. “What did I tell you about being mean to your sister?”

“I’m not being mean if it’s the truth.” She grumbled, crossing her arms.

“It’s okay if you were scared, Shado. No one can be brave all the time. Not even me or Mommy.” Oliver told his daughter. “I was scared, that’s why I went to Mommy for help.”

Shado sniffled. “So, you don’t think I’m a big baby?”

While the twins liked a lot of the same things and had the same mannerisms due to spending years in isolation, they were quite different. Sara was the more outgoing twin and the one who seemed fearless most of the time. Shado was shy and a lot more sensitive. She got scared more easily than her sister, which is something her twin noticed. Sara and Shado didn’t fight very often, but when they did, Sara usually wound up making fun of Shado for getting scared.

“No, of course not.” He told her.

“We’ve had a very long night.” Felicity announced. “I think it might be a good idea to go home.” Oliver agreed and the small family made their way out of the hideout.


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity face off against the Dodger.

Oliver and Felicity spent the next few days after Oliver was shot keeping a very close eye on the twins. They knew not to tell anyone about their identities, but they didn’t want to run the risk of the twins getting really excited and telling people about finding their dad bleeding in the back of their mother’s car.

They stopped worrying after three days. On the third day, Felicity saw a story on the news about a museum guard who’d been forced to steal a ruby. He claimed a man had put a bomb collar around his neck and made him steal the ruby or he’d blow his head off.

After some research, Felicity learned the thief known as the Dodger was well known in Europe, where he’d forced, and in some cases killed, dozens of people to due his dirty work for him. His appearance in Starling made both Oliver and Felicity uneasy.

 

The next day, they saw that a man named Cass Derenick, a suspected fence, had been killed. He’d been shot in the head and there were no leads on who had killed him. Felicity had a feeling that the dead fence was related to the ruby the Dodger had stolen. They were working on figuring out who else he could approach about selling the stolen jewel. She was compiling a list when a news report came on.

“Looks like the SCPD finally reached the same conclusion we did.” She said, turning up the volume. She noticed McKenna was one of the detectives on the Dodger case. “Maybe you should reconnect with an old friend.”

“What?” He asked.

“McKenna. If you can get close to her, you can bug her phone. And if you bug her phone-.”

“We can know what the SCPD know.” He finished. “Makes sense.”

Oliver went to the SCPD to talk to McKenna. He told her he just wanted to thank for her help when Thea was in trouble. McKenna was the only officer that seemed to believe his story that Thea had been drugged. She got called away by an Interpol agent and he used the distraction to bug her phone.

 

Thea, meanwhile, had started her community service at CNRI. Even though she was being forced to do it, it wasn’t as bad as she expected it to be. It was definitely better than picking up trash or working at a soup kitchen. On her second day, Laurel was walking Thea to her car when a guy in red hoodie collided with her and ran off with her purse. Thea chased after him. He managed to get away by jumping over a fence, but his wallet got caught on the gate and Thea found it.

 

By turning on the bug in McKenna’s phone, Oliver and Felicity were able to know everything the SCPD and Interpol learned in the process of searching for the Dodger. They became aware of another person he could use as a fence. They both suited up and went to find the woman before the Dodger could. They arrived after the police raided the building and the thief made his escape. They had him cornered, but before anything else could happen, he set off a bomb collar and used the distraction to run off. Oliver immediately ran towards the building. Felicity, on the other hand, turned around at the last second and fired an arrow at the Dodger’s retreating form. It hit him in the left leg, just above the knee.

With him having escaped, they turned their focus away from chasing after him and onto finding a way to draw him out. The Dodger didn’t just steal any jewels, he had very specific tastes and that could be used to catch him. With some research, Felicity realized he preferred antiquities from the Ominous Decade. The Queen family, meaning Oliver, gladly donated a brooch to an auction for the Starling City Cancer Society taking place the next day.

 

Thea, having her purse-snatchers address, went to the police and reported what happened. He was arrested and Thea was asked to come down to the station so she could identify the man. While she and Laurel were there, they watched Quentin question the man, Roy, about why he’d stolen Thea’s purse. He told him his needed to steal purses to pay for his mother’s medical bills. She felt bad and wanted to tell Lance to drop the charges.

 

Oliver and Felicity left the twins with Moira and went to the cancer society event. Felicity had put a GPS device in the brooch so that if it was taken, they could still track it. While Oliver and Felicity were talking to some other attendees, she saw a man with a distinct limp walk past her. She saw his face briefly when he turned to look at the items up for auction and saw that it was the Dodger.

“Bingo.” She whispered to Oliver before excusing herself to get another drink.

Instead of getting a drink, Felicity followed after the Dodger and waited for him to act. She watched him slide the glass above the brooch out of the way and place it into his pocket.

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you stealing is bad?” She asked before he turned around. “That brooch was donated by the Queen family. You want it, you’re gonna have to bid for it.”

“Actually, I was thinking of just taking it.” He responded, pulling an explosive collar out of his jacket. He moved towards her. “Nothing personal, of course, but I can’t exactly let you go running to the police.”

He took a step closer to her, hoping to overpower her. She grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. He tried to break free, but she twisted his arm further. He dropped the bomb collar in his hand and she kicked it away from him. She let go of his arm when he was no longer armed and raised an eyebrow. He slowly lowered the tazer he had hidden up his sleeve. Tazing her here would cause a scene, but it was preferable to getting caught.

“Well, that was entertaining, but I’ll be off now.” He said before moving to hit her with it. She moved out of the way at the last second, so while she felt the charge, it didn’t knock her out. He didn’t seem to notice and took off. Felicity took a few seconds to recover before seeking Oliver out.

She handed her phone to Oliver. “He took the bait. Hold this and talk me in.”

“You wanna go alone?”

“He stole the brooch, tried to put a bomb collar on me and tazed me.” She answered.

“How about both of you go and I’ll talk you guys in.” John suggested.

Felicity kicked off her shoes and ran out of the building. Oliver followed suit. She saw him about to get into a car, and saw red. He was about to drive off when she threw a fletchette at one of the wheels, deflating it so he couldn’t escape.

“I might not have put that collar around you, but it’s still active.” He said, taking a remote out of his pocket. “Let me go or everyone in that building dies.”

Oliver threw a fletchette at his arm and it struck him in the forearm. “Your median nerve’s been severed. You couldn’t press that button if you tried.”

When the Dodger turned to deal with Oliver, she hit him over the back of the head. A few seconds later, Lance, McKenna and a few other officers ran out of the building with their weapons drawn.

“You two okay?” Lance asked.

“Yeah, we were just- we wanted some time alone and he came rushing out of the building. Then, the Hood and his partner showed up and started fighting him. Who is he?” Felicity said.

“A jewel thief.” The police started searching him and found the brooch in his pocket. “Isn’t this the brooch your family donated?”

“Yeah.” Oliver answered. They gave the police a short statement before heading home.

 

They walked into the mansion and heard a cat screeching. They rushed upstairs to find Sara and Shado were in the bathroom, holding an unhappy looking Oscar over the bathtub.

“What are you doing?” Felicity asked.

“Oscar is dirty and smelly.” Sara said.

“So we’re making him clean.” Shado finished.

“That’s very nice, but Oscar doesn’t look happy.” Oliver told them.

“Nobody likes bath time.” Sara said, trying to force him into the water. She finally got him into the tub and he jumped out as soon as he could and ran towards the door. Since the bathroom door was closed he couldn’t get out. “Daddy, grab him so we can wash him.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Cats don’t like water.”

The very angry looking cat was hissing and his back was arched. Felicity slowly opened the door. Moira was about to enter the bathroom, wondering what the commotion was. Oscar decided to shake himself dry, soaking her in water. Now somewhat drier, Oscar ran out of the room as fast as he could.


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Oliver and Felicity face off against an old foe, secrets end up coming out.

Oscar decided to shake himself dry, soaking Moira in water. Now somewhat drier, Oscar ran out of the room as fast as he could. She froze in surprise for several minutes and Oliver and Felicity waited for her to collect her thoughts.

“What is going on?”

“Ask them.” Felicity responded, pointing to the twins.

“We were giving Oscar a bath because he was dirty.” Shado answered. “We got him into the water, but he jumped out and Daddy didn’t catch him and he shook water all over you.”

“Sorry you got wet.” Sara added as an afterthought.

“Girls, cats don’t take baths. They have their own way of getting clean.” Oliver informed them.

“How?”

Felicity knew if she told the twins that cats licked themselves clean, the girls might decide to try it. For plenty of reasons, she didn’t want them to think that was okay. Humans had to bathe, cats didn’t and that was what the twins needed to know.

“Daddy and I help clean Oscar after you girls go to sleep.” She lied. “Speaking of which, its bedtime.”

“But we’re not sleepy!”

“Well, you will be soon. Let’s put on our PJs okay?”

Grumbling, the twins left the bathroom and went into their room to change into their pajamas. When their parents came in to tuck them in, they were still arguing that they weren’t tired, even though Sara audibly yawned and Shado could barely keep her eyes open.

 

The next night, Oliver and Felicity had been expecting patrol to be pretty quiet. They were still looking into the List and trying to figure out what the Undertaking was, and Felicity was still investigating Moira, but there was nothing they could do at the moment. They were standing on a rooftop, overlooking the city when Felicity asked a question.

“You hear that too, right?” She asked. “It sounds like-.”

“A helicopter.” He finished as they watched a helicopter, with no lights on it, land on a nearby roof.

“Landing in the middle of the night, with no lights on and barely any noise.” She described. “That doesn’t seem suspicious at all.”

“Let’s go see what this is about.” He suggested as he shot a repelling arrow onto the building. She followed suit. They landed on the rooftop and crept towards the area where the helicopter had landed. They stayed hidden until they saw one person disembark. As soon as he was off, the helicopter flew away. They chose that moment as a good time to make their presence known. Felicity fired an arrow right in front of the man’s face.

“Great. A welcoming committee.” The unknown man remarked.

He took two knives out of his jacket and threw them at the pair. Oliver dodged out of the way, but the other knife grazed Felicity’s arm. Seeing her as the better target, he grabbed another knife and threw it at her, this time aiming for a more vital area. She used an arrow to deflect the knife, but he then threw another one. Seeing he was going in for the kill, Oliver nocked an arrow and fired it at the man. It struck him directly in the heart and he fell to the ground.

“You okay?”

“Sure, I love it when random psychos throw knives at me.” She deadpanned. “At least you didn’t damage his phone. I don’t know about you, but a guy sneaking into the city in the middle of the night, this armed, it screams hitman to me.” She started going through his pockets to see what else she could find. She pulled out a wallet and an ID. “Well, that’s surrendipitious.”

“What is?”

“Our dead friend here was on the List. Guillermo Barrera.” She explained. “Now, let’s see if I can do my thing, find out who his target is.”

 

When Barrera missed his meeting with the Triad, Chien Na Wei had some of her men look into it and learned that he’d been killed by one of the city’s vigilantes. Given that the Triad had already been paid for the hit he was supposed to perform, she arranged for Floyd Lawton, AKA Deadshot, to return to Starling. Perhaps he should’ve been her first choice to kill Malcolm Merlyn.

 

It took Felicity longer than she would’ve liked to hacked into Barrera’s phone. If she wasn’t trying to keep someone from getting killed, she might’ve been impressed by how well protected it was. It took her several hours, but she finally had a name. Malcolm Merlyn. She also learned who had put a hit out on him, and things didn’t look good. If the Triad wanted you dead, they found a way to kill you. She called Oliver and told him Malcolm was the target. The pair decided to stake out the Starling City Humanitarian of the Year ceremony that night.

“It’s weird right?”

“What is?” Oliver responded.

“Him winning this award. I’ll admit I don’t really know him, but something about him getting this award seems….out of place.”

“I’m not sure what-.” Oliver was about to retort but then the power in the building went out. They left their hiding spot and went to engage the Triad members who’d been disguised as waiters for the event. Malcolm took Tommy and ran upstairs. Oliver followed, hoping to keep them both safe from the hitmen. Felicity stayed in the main floor, handling the footsoldiers and making sure none of the other attendees were harmed. Soon enough, the SCPD arrived and she took off after Oliver.

When she got upstairs and found him, he was standing a few feet away from Tommy. Malcolm was bleeding on the ground. Tommy had a gun pointed at Oliver, but his hands were shaking.

“The bullet barely hit him.” Tommy argued.

“The hitman laces his bullets with a deadly poison. There’s a way to save him.”

“You need to give him some of your blood.” Felicity said. “He’s your father, you’re a compatible match. If clean blood gets into his system, it’ll buy enough time for an ambulance to get here.”

“Why should I trust you? Why should I trust either of you?”

Oliver glanced over to Felicity before making a decision. He reached up and lowered his hood. “Because you always have.”

Felicity lowered her own hood. “We’ll have time to explain later, but you need to act fast if you wanna save him.”

She talked Tommy through giving Malcolm a transfusion, but they had to leave when the police came upstairs. When he was being questioned by Lance, he denied knowing who the Hood or Artemis were, saying he didn’t see their faces. The two vigilantes went back to the foundry and had to tell Digg that Deadshot was still alive, much to everyone’s disappointment.

It was nearing dawn when Tommy finally came to Verdant looking for answers. He wanted to know if they were ever going to tell him the truth, they weren’t. He asked about all of the deaths they’d been blamed for. Oliver admitted to the few deaths that had been on him, but informed him about the Dark Archer killing the others. Then, his best friend asked an interesting question.

“Do they know? Your girls, I mean? Do they know what Mommy and Daddy do?”

“Yeah, they do. They figured it out themselves. They aren’t even four years old, but they’re smarter than the average preschooler. They get it from Felicity.”

"I- I need to be....not here right now." Tommy said before walking away.

 

While Tommy was getting answers, Malcolm asked Moira to visit him in the hospital. He ordered her to find the traitor in their midst who was trying to stop the Undertaking. She agreed to do it, while internally panicking about how to get out of this situation.


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity discusses her instinct about someone with Oliver and remembers a rare, happy moment on Lian Yu.

After Oliver and Felicity had saved Malcolm from Deadshot, and Oliver was reasonably certain Tommy wouldn’t turn them in to the police, the pair went home. The twins had already been asleep when they left and Raisa agreed to check in on them periodically until their parents came home. They were both pissed about Deadshot still being at large and Felicity was curious about Malcolm.

“Who’d want him dead though?”

“I don’t know.”’

“I mean, there’s clearly something off about him. It’s obvious and when I have time, I’m gonna figure out what it is, but I don’t know if his secret makes him worth killing.”

“Why do you think he’s hiding something?”

“I get this vibe anytime I’m in the same room as him. I got the same vibe from Fyers. And Ivo. And Slade after he was...changed. He’s not a good guy.” She said before pulling up to the mansion.

Oliver didn’t get the same feeling about Malcolm as Felicity did, but he supposed he might not be the best judge. He’d known Malcolm his whole life, which meant he was a little biased and believed the man wasn’t hiding anything. He didn’t respond to Felicity’s comments and followed her inside.

Felicity walked past their bedroom towards the twins. She stopped in the doorway and just watched her daughters. They were fast asleep in their beds.

“They look so peaceful, so young.”

“They turn four next month.” Oliver pointed out. “They are young.”

“Not for some of the things they’ve seen.” She remarked. “No three year old should witness their mommy killing armed mercenaries or Russian mob members.” She thought back to the fights where the twins saw her fighting off the ‘bad men’ on Lian Yu.

“Reiter should’ve left you alone and Kovar’s men didn’t give you much of a choice. You did what you had to do to survive, to keep our kids alive.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better about them seeing me kill people.” She said.

Oliver walked over and put his arm around her. “It’s been a long night. Let’s go to bed.” He started to pull her towards their room and she let him take her to bed. They laid down and Oliver fell asleep easily. Felicity was kept awake, reliving some of her bad memories on the island. After a while, a good memory began peeking through. 

* * *

 

**Lian Yu- Five years ago**

After Felicity had ruined Fyers’ circuit board, things got quiet on Lian Yu. Way too quiet. Slade, Oliver, Shado and Felicity all knew Fyers and his men were still on the island. They were still waiting to kill them and continue with their plans. Felicity’s actions had delayed Fyers’ plans, she hadn’t stopped him. The group was on edge, and no one was dealing with it very well.

Slade was out checking the perimeter. Shado was in the wrecked plane meditating and Oliver found Felicity outside of the plane, throwing a knife at the same spot on a tree over and over.

“What did that tree ever do to you?”

“Nothing, I just need to practice.”

“These guys have guns. What do you expect a knife to do?”

Felicity pulled the knife out of the tree and turned to face him. “A lot, it’s not the guns that are the problem. It’s the bullets. They only have so many bullets and guns need to be reloaded. And while they’re reloading to try and kill me, this knife just might save my life. Hence, why I’m practicing.”

“Your uncle teach you how to throw knives?”

“No. Shooting guns, yes. He showed me how to use knives when it came to hunting. This is something I learned after we washed up here.”

“Can you teach me?” He asked. “That seems like a useful skill to have.”

“Sure.” She handed him the knife. “Now, you’ll notice the handle and the blade are equal weight. That makes it easier to throw because it flies through the air easier. Let’s talk about aim. Where do you want it to hit?”

“The tree.”

“No duh, the tree. Where on the tree though? Do you want to hit the middle, the roots, what?”

“Same place you were aiming.” He clarified.

“Wrong! It’s basic physics. You’re taller than me, so where I hit is a downwards angle for you and that’s gonna be harder to do. You want it to go straight, so chest level.” She explained. “Try it.” Oliver threw the knife and it hit the tree but bounced off, not cutting into it. “Ok. move closer and try again.”

“What?”

“Did you expect to do it right on the first try? You’re too far away. Move closer and do it again.” She said. “Practice makes perfect and all that.”

Oliver lost track of how many tries it took before he managed to actually hit the tree and use enough force for the knife to stay in. It probably took a few hours.

“Not bad.” Felicity said. “But your aim is a little off and we should fix that. Get into the stance like you’re about to throw it, but, you know, don’t throw it.” Oliver did as she asked. She moved closer to him and adjusted the way his hips were situated and how his throwing arm was positioned. She suddenly realized her face was very close to his. She cleared her throat. “Try- try it now.”

Instead, Oliver lowered his arm and used his other arm to bring Felicity’s face closer to his, kissing her. They weren’t sure how long they stayed like that, but eventually the sound of Slade’s throat clearing broke them apart.

“Am I interrupting something?”

“What do you think?” Felicity responded. “Well, that was a good first lesson.” 

* * *

 

**Starling City- Present**

Felicity woke up when she felt the bed shift next to her. She kept her eyes closed and used her other senses to gauge her surroundings. She could hear Sara trying, and failing, to whisper for her twin to be quiet. Seconds later, a small foot kicked Felicity in the ribs. She grabbed the foot and started tickling it.

“Mommy! Stop!” Sara said in between laughs.

“I don’t think I will. What do you think Daddy?” She asked Oliver.

“I think….they both need to be tickled.” He said as he started doing the same to Shado. Soon, all four of them were laughing on the bed.

“You two are up early.” Felicity said when the laughter died down.

“Couldn’t sleep.”

Sara got up from her spot next to Felicity and started climbing on Oliver. Shado was already on top of him. “Girls, we talked about this, Daddy isn’t a playground. You can’t just climb on top of him.”

“But he’s so tall.” Shado defended.

“Can we go to the playground then?” Sara asked. “Or outside to climb trees?”

“How about we get dressed, eat breakfast and then we’ll do that.” Oliver suggested.

“Okay.” The twins said in unison as they got off of him and ran to their bedroom.

“I’m gonna need a lot of coffee.” Felicity said as she got out of bed.


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver, Felicity and the twins have a nice, normal family day without any arrows being fired.

After getting dressed, Felicity drinking two cups of coffee, and everyone having some pancakes courtesy of Oliver, the family piled into Felicity’s car and drove to the closest playground to the mansion. They could’ve just stayed at the mansion and let the twins climb trees there or play in the backyard, but Felicity wanted the girls to spend more time around other kids. They were socializing at daycare according to the staff, but she needed to make up for ‘lost time’ when it came to them making friends. Taking them to the playground and having them interact with kids of all ages seemed like a good starting point.

Felicity and Oliver sat on a bench and watched Sara and Shado run around. They were playing by themselves at first, but then started playing with a little girl. Felicity suspected they might’ve known her from daycare.

“Look at that. They’re making friends.” She said to Oliver.

“Good. I know I didn’t want them going to daycare, and I thought it was too soon, but-.”

“But I was right, I know. Kids need to be around others their age. I know from experience.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was a child prodigy, I’m sure you know that already. My teachers kept wanting my mom to let me skip grades. She didn’t let that happen until I was supposed to be going into fourth grade but they put me in sixth. It was awkward and I felt disconnected from people, but I knew how to socialize somewhat from being around others from preschool through third grade. I knew how to make friends and that helped me adjust.”

Oliver knew Felicity was a gifted child. He hadn’t known that she skipped grades, although it made sense looking back on it. Part of him was surprised that there was something about Felicity he didn’t know, but mostly, the story made him sad. He could picture a younger version of Felicity surrounded by students two years older than she was. She probably felt very lonely at first, being not only the new kid but also trying to make friends among people who probably saw her as a little kid still.

He realized thinking about him just made him sadder, so he focused his attention back on the twins. Shado was on a swing with the girl, Melody, from daycare while Sara was across the playground, starting to climb a tree. She was pulling herself up to a higher branch when Oliver saw an adult walk over to where she was. He was sure the woman wanted to help, and worried she’d fall and hurt herself, but he could see this ending badly. He stood up and moved over to where his daughter was.

The woman was trying to talk to Sara. “-climbing so high.”

“Go away! You’re not my mommy!” the preschooler responded. “You’re a stupid meanie!”

The woman gasped in shock.

“Sara.” Oliver said in warning tone. “Sorry, we had the ‘don’t talk to strangers’ talk recently and she took it seriously.”

“Should she be up so high?” The woman asked.

Sara was only about six feet off the ground. If she fell, which was unlikely, Oliver was able to catch her. “She’s fine. She likes climbing trees and she’s gone higher than that. Thank you for your concern though.” The woman walked away and Oliver saw Sara sticking her tongue out at the woman’s retreating back. “It’s not nice to call people names.”

“She was being bossy.”

“She was worried you’d hurt yourself.”

“Why? I climb bigger trees all the time.”

“She doesn’t know that, does she?” He countered. “You don’t wanna play with Shado?”

“Shado’s playing with Melody. They wanted to swing, I didn’t.” She said with a shrug. “I wanted to climb trees but this tree is boring.”

“Then climb back down.” He suggested.

Sara climbed down from her spot and ran over to where Shado and Melody were playing. They gotten off the swings and moved over to the jungle gym. She climbed up next to them and started talking, although they were talking so fast, Oliver couldn’t follow their conversation.

Oliver walked back over to Felicity, who was watching the girls play with a smile. After about an hour, Melody’s mother said they needed to go and the little girl left. Oliver and Felicity decided now was a pretty good time for them to leave as well.

“What do you girls wanna do next?” Felicity asked as they walked to the car. “Are you hungry? Tired? Do you wanna go home and play?”

“I wanna milkshake!” Sara announced. “Climbing the tree made me hungry.”

“And swinging back and forth made me want one too.” Shado chimed in.

“Yeah, I thought it might.” Their mother said with a smile. “Milkshakes and burgers it is.” She turned around and drove towards Big Belly Burger.

They got to the restaurant and were seated at a booth towards the back. The twins started telling Felicity about which milkshake flavor was the best. Shado thought it was chocolate, but Sara said the Oreo one was better. Oliver suggested vanilla and they told him he was boring. They ordered their food and were waiting for it to arrive when Oliver froze.

Tommy walked into the restaurant and as soon as he entered, he saw Oliver and Felicity. He hadn’t spoken to either of them since they were forced to reveal their secret to him in order to save his father. He was still processing the news, not completely sure how to react to it. Still, they’d made eye contact and he couldn’t just ignore that. Oliver saw Tommy take several deep breaths before walking over to their booth.

“Hey.” He said awkwardly.

“Hi.” Oliver responded.

“Mommy, why are they being weird?” Sara asked.

“Because they’re boys and boys are weird.” Felicity answered.

“Boys are gross!” Shado said.

“Good. Keep that in mind for the rest of your life.” Oliver said before turning back to Tommy. “I know there are some things we need to discuss. Meet me at Verdant an hour before opening.”

“Fine.” He said.

“Order for Merlyn!” The cashier read out.

Tommy paid for his food and left. Oliver and Felicity were both nervous about how their conversation with him would go.


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity talk with Tommy and the twins have show and tell at daycare.

After the awkwardness of running into Tommy, Felicity, Oliver and the twins tried to get back to their happy bubble of family bliss they’d been in that day. It was rare that both Oliver and Felicity were having ‘good’ days mental healthwise, and even rarer that such days happened when they could spend all day with their daughters. A part of Felicity was really pissed that they’d run into Tommy, because his presence seemed to make Oliver start to spiral into feeling guilty about everything he’d ever done.

“So, girls, did you two have fun today?” Felicity asked.

“Yeah!” Shado exclaimed.

“Uh-huh.” Sara answered. “And I know what I’m gonna be when I grow up.”

“What’s that?” Oliver asked.

“A tree-climber person.”

“That’s exciting.”

“I’m gonna be Artemis.” Shado said quietly.

“No! Wait, I wanna be Artemis!” Her twin declared.

“Too bad! I said it first.”

“You both wanna be Artemis? Neither of you wanna be the Hood?” Oliver asked. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was a little hurt that they both wanted to be Felicity, and not him.

“We can’t.” Shado said.

“Yeah, he’s a boy.” Sara continued, making a grossed-out face. “We aren’t boys. Boys are icky!”

“You wanna weigh in here, hon?” Oliver said to Felicity.

“They can be Artemis if they want.” She said, after swallowing the food in her mouth. “And they’re right, all boys except you are icky.”

They finished their food and went back to the mansion. The twins played inside for several hours before Oliver and Felicity left to head to Verdant.

 

Oliver and Felicity walked in Verdant. Tommy was already there, sitting at the bar waiting for them. They knew they’d put this conversation off as long as they could, and braced themselves for whatever reaction Tommy was going to have.

“Hey.” Oliver said awkwardly.

“So, you’re the Hood. And you’re Artemis.” He responded. “Let’s skip the part where we tiptoe around that fact.”

“Fine by me.” Felicity said. “And yes, we are.”

“And according to Oliver, neither of you were going to tell me.”

“No, we weren’t.”

“You don’t trust me.”

“I can’t speak for Oliver, but its not about trust. Knowing who we are, who really are, its dangerous. If anyone knew that you knew who we were, you’d be in danger. Everyone you know would be in danger. I wanted to prevent that.” She said.

“Anything you wanna add, Ollie?”

“The fewer people who learn our identities the better.” Oliver said.

“But your three-year-olds can know.”

“It would be kinda hard to keep that secret from them. They worked it out for themselves after seeing that the Hood and Artemis fought similar to how they’d seen us fight on Lian Yu.”

“Who were you fighting on a deserted island?”

“It wasn’t deserted.” Felicity said bluntly. “And I’d really like it if we could not take a trip down that bit of memory lane right now.”

“So, you’re both killers and I’m just supposed to be okay with that? Keep that secret.”

“We’ve both taken lives, yes. Every person I’ve killed, tried to kill me first. Or tried to kill my kids. One in particular, just days after they were born.” She said. “I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t have done the same thing.”

“We made an agreement when we were rescued.” Oliver said quietly. “We only kill if we have to. Thankfully, we haven’t needed to very often.”

“Why are you doing this anyway? Why become vigilantes?”

“Because something very wrong is going on in this city, and no one else seems to have noticed.” He said.

“I won’t say anything. I’m pissed, and we’re gonna have several long discussions about a few things, but this secret, I’ll keep it.” Tommy said. “I’m calling in sick tonight though.” He threw over his shoulder as he walked out of the club.

“Well, that didn’t go as badly as I thought it would.”

 

The next morning, Felicity was getting the twins ready for daycare and noticed they seemed to be bouncing up and down with excitement. She hadn’t seen them this excited in a while.

“What has you two so excited?”

“It’s show and tell day today!” Sara said.

“Oh, it is? And are you bringing something?”

“Yeah. But I can’t tell you what it is. It’s a secret.”

“It’s a secret.” She repeated. Then she began to worry. “It didn’t come from Mommy and Daddy’s room, did it?” Sara shook her head. “Did it come from our special hideout with our bows?” She shook her head again. “Okay, well I hope everyone likes it.”

She took them to daycare and dropped them off. About an hour after they arrived, the teacher announced it was show and tell time. She asked who wanted to go first and the twins both started waving their arms in the air, trying to be seen.

“Ok, ok. Sara, do you wanna go first or does your sister?”

“We’re doing it together.” Sara said. “At the same time.”

“Okay. Let’s see what you brought.”

Sara went to her cubby, grabbed her backpack and carried it to the front of the class. As she set it down and opened it, the teacher noticed it seemed to be moving. She unzipped it, and Shado pulled out a very annoyed looking orange cat.

“This is Oscar. We found him outside and ‘dopted him.” Sara said as her twin held him up. “He’s kinda grumpy, but we love him.”

The kids stood up from their seats and started moving closer to where Shado was holding Oscar so they could see him up close.

Oscar wasn’t happy about being held and started hissing. He began wiggling around, trying to make Shado let go of him. She lost her grasp on the cat and he landed on the ground before running underneath a bookshelf and hiding from everyone.

Felicity got a call from the daycare center a few minutes later, telling her the twins had brought their cat to show and tell and the cat was now hiding under a shelf. Felicity called Oliver to come deal with the issue. 

After Oliver caught Oscar and took him home, Felicity went back to work. She worked on one of her bigger projects for a little bit before going to lunch. She came back and started looking, discretely, into Malcolm Merlyn’s business, trying to understand the weird vibe she was getting off of him, when she heard a knock at the door. She looked up to see Laurel.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I, uh, I need to ask you something. About Sara, my Sara.” Laurel said. “How did she die?”

“Why are you asking? I thought you decided you didn’t wanna know.”

“My mom paid me a visit. She claims Sara is still alive.”


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity remembers Sara Lance and a blast from the past comes back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The flashbacks in this story aren't always going to be in chronological order. The one in this chapter takes place over a year after Oliver and Felicity wash up on Lian Yu.

After Oliver caught Oscar and took him home, Felicity went back to work. She worked on one of her bigger projects for a little bit before going to lunch. She came back and started looking, discretely, into Malcolm Merlyn’s business, trying to understand the weird vibe she was getting off of him, when she heard a knock at the door. She looked up to see Laurel.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I, uh, I need to ask you something. About Sara, my Sara.” Laurel said. “How did she die?”

“Why are you asking? I thought you decided you didn’t wanna know.”

“My mom paid me a visit. She claims Sara is still alive.”

“I don’t know what is making her think this, and you have no idea how much I wish otherwise, but your mother is wrong.” 

* * *

 

**Lian Yu- April 2009 (Nineteen Months Post-Gambit sinking)**

Felicity sighed in relief as she finally got the twins to sleep. Shado Donna Queen, and her currently unnamed sister, were fast asleep in the makeshift crib she, Shado, Oliver and Sara had built in the temple on Lian Yu. It was the highest point on the island, and thus it was impossible for someone to attack without being seen. Oliver didn’t want to resort to this, but things had been going downhill since Ivo showed up.

Just two days after Shado had delivered Felicity’s twin daughters, Oliver found Felicity in the temple and told her Ivo had killed Shado. Slade was distraught and could only think about revenge. The archer told her to stay in the temple and he’d come find her later, after Ivo, and to a lesser extent Slade, were handled.

That had been a month ago. Oliver had visited only once since then and told her Slade had apparently lost his mind. Felicity walked out of the temple and glared at the tanker anchored off of the island’s shore. If the ship had never come here, so many terrible things wouldn’t have happened. She was about to head back inside when she saw something explode on the Amazo’s deck. Other, smaller explosions followed.

She didn’t have any proof, but deep down, she knew Oliver was on that boat. Sara probably was too. Even though the ship was crippled, she believed they were alive. They had to be. She kept believing that until a week had passed. If Sara, or Oliver, or anyone had survived the explosion, they would’ve found her by now.

One week after the explosion, Felicity came to terms with the fact they weren’t coming back. She decided to name her other daughter Sara, after her fallen friend. Two days later, the full reality of the situation hit her. She was alone. On an island in the middle of nowhere, with two one-month-old infants. 

* * *

 

**Starling- Present**

“You’re sure? How? It was nighttime. You and Ollie both admitted to waking up on a life raft. Sara could’ve- she could’ve gotten separated from you. Been found by someone else. Then, you wouldn’t-. How do you know?” Laurel asked.

She didn’t know it, but her theory, about Sara being separated from Oliver and being found by someone else, was correct. Sara had drifted away on a piece of debris and was found by Dr. Antony Ivo. Ivo finding her brought Sara back into Felicity and Oliver’s lives for a short time. Still, Sara died after their brief reunion and it was easier for her family to think she drowned than for them to learn she survived the ‘accident’ on the Gambit only to be blown up a year later.

“I didn’t wake up on the life raft. I was awake the whole time. I saw Sara being pulled under by the water.” She said quietly.

“What?”

“I was standing next to Sara when the boat started to capsize. I saw her get pulled into the water. She didn’t just fall in, she got sucked into ocean. When I resurfaced, I tried to find her. She went under and didn’t come back up.  When Oliver pulled me into the raft, I was yelling that we needed to find Sara. By then, she was already gone.” Felicity admitted. “Sara is dead. I know she’s dead because I saw it happen. I’m very sorry Laurel.”

“You saw it happen? Why didn’t you-?”

“I didn’t want you to hate me anymore than you already did. I survived because of random chance. If Sara and I had been in opposite positions, she might be here instead.” The blonde admitted. “And I didn’t wanna offer up that detail unless I had to.”

“I- thank you. I guess I was willing to believe it was possible, that there was a chance-.” Laurel began. “I’m gonna- I should go.”

She left and after realizing Laurel’s visit was bringing up bad memories, Felicity left work as well. She picked the girls up from daycare and went home.

“Why did you bring Oscar to show and tell?”

“We wanted our friends to meet him!” Shado said.

“Hiding him in your backpack wasn’t very nice. He was probably really scared and that made him extra grmpy..”

“We told him he was safe!”

“Sara, he’s a cat. Cats don’t understand humans very well.” Her mother said. “From now on, you need to talk to me and Daddy before you bring stuff for show and tell.”

“That’s stupid.” Sara said, crossing her arms and pouting.

They went back to the mansion and the girls ran upstairs to play. Felicity found Oliver typing furiously on his computer.

“We have a problem.”

“Yes, we do.” She agreed. “Malcolm Merlyn’s into something dangerous and probably illegal. I wasn’t able to crack his cybersecurity yet, but it’s a matter of time. There’s also a lot of crossover between money your mother has invested, discretely, and money Malcolm has invested. In companies that are either shell corporations or just don’t really exist. Oh, speaking of which, Tempest, the fake company of your mother’s, just bought another building in the Glades. We need to find out why.”

“We will, but we have a bigger problem. Helena’s back.”

“Great. Because we didn’t have enough problems already.” She said with an eye roll. “Let’s go stop her, so we can get back to the people who matter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will not be a chapter next week, because I'll be on vacation.


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity face off against Helena again and Oliver remembers something from his year in Hong Kong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder: Flashbacks aren't happening in order.
> 
> Any events I've glossed over are going to be covered eventually.

“We have a problem.” Oliver told Felicity when he looked from his computer.

“Yes, we do.” She agreed. “Malcolm Merlyn’s into something dangerous and probably illegal. I wasn’t able to crack his cybersecurity yet, but it’s a matter of time. There’s also a lot of crossover between money your mother has invested, discretely, and money Malcolm has invested. In companies that are either shell corporations or just don’t really exist. Oh, speaking of which, Tempest, the fake company of your mother’s, just bought another building in the Glades. We need to find out why.”

“We will, but we have a bigger problem. Helena’s back.”

“Great. Because we didn’t have enough problems already.” She said with an eye roll. “Let’s go stop her, so we can get back to the people who matter.”

“My mom-.”

“Is not the woman we need to deal with right now. Helena’s a distraction we don’t need to have at large when we’re dealing with your mother and the evil cabal she joined.” She said. “How do you know Helena’s back in town?”

“This is how.” Oliver hit a key on his laptop and a video starting playing. “This guy is Frank Bertinelli’s lawyer.”

It seemed to be security camera footage from one of the private rooms in a strip club. It didn’t have sound, but it showed a dancer talking to a customer. After about two minutes of talking, she pulled out a crossbow and shot the man before walking out. On the way out, the camera caught a head-on reflection of the dancer. It was clearly Helena.

“Why’s she back now? Frank’s still in prison.” Felicity wondered aloud.

“Not for long. According to Anatoli’s….sources, he cut a deal. They’re going to put him in witness protection.” He said.

“So, she wants to kill him before he testifies and they hide him.” She said. “I don’t think I’ve ever encountered someone this dedicated to killing a specific person before.”

“Slade was.”

“Slade was also losing his mind from the Mirakuru-induced rage.”

“Helena is here. She wants revenge and to kill her father. How do we stop her?”

Felicity sighed. “The best way would be to make sure nothing happens to Frank before he testified, which puts us at odds with the SCPD. Not to mention how much I hate protecting scumbags like him.”

“We can’t just let him die.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” She said. “Let me see what I can find out from out friends from the Bureau.”

“You wanna hack the FBI?”

“No, but how else are we gonna find him? Or protect him? You can’t protect someone if you don’t know where they are.”

“Trust me, I know.” Oliver agreed. He started thinking back to what happened when he woke up in Hong Kong. 

* * *

 

**Hong Kong 2009 (Nineteen Months post-Gambit)**

“You need to send me back.” Oliver insisted.

Waller gave him an unimpressed look and crossed her arms. “Do I? Why is that?”

“That island wasn’t deserted.”

“I’m aware.”

“Then you’re aware that you left-.”

“Felicity Smoak and her two infants on Lian Yu, yes.” She finished. “I told you, Mr. Queen, I’ve been watching you for some time.”

He froze in shock. “You knew she was there, and you just left her there? Left them there?”

“I don’t need a hacker of her caliber and children are useless to me.” She said coldly. “Besides, the way I see it, you have incentive to get me the information I want. I’d hate for something to happen to Ms. Smoak and her kids while you’re busy arguing with me.” She whispered something to one of the ARGUS agents with her and walked out of the room. 

Oliver watched Waller leave and felt anger to a degree he'd never experienced before. This woman had kidnapping him, wanted him to work for her, and now was basically threatening a woman and two infants to make sure he complied. She was evil.

* * *

 

**Starling City- Present**

 While Felicity was searching for Frank Bertinelli’s location, Oliver got a phone call from Tommy. He sounded strange and insisted that Oliver meet him at Verdant immediately.

“What’s the big emergency?” He asked as he walked into the club that was about to have its big grand reopening that night.

“Uh, her.” Tommy said, pointing to something behind Oliver.

The archer turned around to see Helena, wielding a crossbow. Questions raced through his head. Why was she here? Did she know his secret? Or Felicity’s? How did she figure it out? What did she want?

“Oliver Queen.”

“Uh, hi. Can you point that somewhere else?” He said, eyeing her weapon warily.

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna shoot you. Not unless you make me angry.” She said, lowering it a tiny bit. “I hear you know the man in the hood, and his little sidekick.”

“I don’t know him.”

“Then why’d he save your life when you came back to town?” She asked, raising the crossbow again. “In fact, the Hood and Artemis must have a soft spot for you, because they’ve saved you more than once.”

“I didn’t ask them to do that. I didn’t ask any of them to do that.” He said.

“Well, I need you to give those two a message for me. Can you do that?” She asked. “Good. Tell them to stay out of my way. They’ve already wrecked my plans once.”

Oliver nodded once. Helena aimed her weapon at the ceiling and shot out one of the lightbulbs, making her escape.

“Who was that?”

“Her name’s Helena. She wants to kill her father.” He answered. “I need to go call Felicity.”

He called his girlfriend and told her what had happened. She was angry about Helena threatening them, but had already learned where Frank was, which was a good thing.

Believing Helena wouldn’t attack during the day, they made a plan to watch the safehouse after dark until after Frank testified. The first night went by quickly and nothing happened except for Felicity trying not to die of boredom.

The second night, however, things got crazy. A little after 8:30, Oliver saw one of the FBI agents at the safehouse fall to the ground. He snuck closer and saw that the agent had been shot by a crossbow bolt. Helena was here. She’d found them.

He radioed Felicity. letting her know what was going on. “She’s here.”

“I know. She’s not exactly subtle” The blonde said. “And I can only deflect her shots for so long before I run out of arrows or she thinks something is up. She’s trying to get into the house.”

“I’ll be right there.” He said. By the time he made it into the building, Helena had taken out most of the FBI agents and SCPD officers guarding Frank.

“Get out of there.” Felicity told him. “He bolted out of a window, and so did she. If they spot you inside-.”

“We’re gonna get blamed for this.” He said. “Where is she?”

“They’re both running towards the southern end of the perimeter. I’m following, but so is Detective Hall.” She said.

“I’ll be right there.”

By the time he reached Felicity’s location, Frank was gone and Helena, Felicity and McKenna were in the middle of some kind of standoff. McKenna ordered Felicity to drop her bow, Helena had a shotgun aimed at McKenna and Felicity looked prepared to take out Helena to help McKenna.

“I thought I told you to stay out of my way.” Helena said.

“You did. I just don’t care.”

“Drop the weapons now!”

“You aren’t gonna shoot me, Katniss.” Helena said. “You and Robin Hood don’t kill.”

“There’s a first time for everything.”

“Helena.” Oliver said, getting her attention. “It’s over.”

“No, its not. My father is still breathing.” She practically growled.

Another person ran towards the group and a lot happened at once. Helena fired at McKenna. Felicity shot an arrow at Helena in response, which went through her hand and forced her to drop her weapon. McKenna collapsed. Oliver rushed over to McKenna to check her wound. Helena ran off and McKenna’s partner, who’d been trying to sneak up on the group, took off after her. Lance found Oliver bent over McKenna’s body, having just finished making a tourniquet.

“She took a bullet to the leg. I don’t know if it hit the femoral artery.” He said. “You need to call an ambulance.”

Lance did exactly that before turning back to Oliver. “What happened?”

“Frank Bertinelli’s daughter happened.” He answered.

“And your partner?”

“’Went to check on a few of the marshals Helena shot to get in here.” He said before walking away.

 

Helena got away. Frank got away. The shooting left McKenna temporarily paralyzed. All in all, the last two days had been a bust. The couple went home and collapsed into bed. Sara and Shado woke them up the next morning, before dawn, wanting to show them a ‘new trick’ Oscar had learned.

“Cats don’t do tricks, Sara.” Felicity said.

“Oscar does. Come see.” She insisted.

Both parents got out of bed and followed her into the twins’ playroom. Oscar was sitting on a shelf on the bookcase, cleaning himself. when they walked in, Shado pointed to him.

“Look! Oscar can put his leg behind his head.” She said.

“What’s that?” Sara asked, pointing at a specific part of the cat. Oscar had very long, thick fur, even if it was matted in some places when they first adopted him. This meant that certain parts of him weren’t very easy to see. When Oscar lifted his leg up to lick it clean, one of those parts became clearly visible.

Oliver and Felicity both gulped. While their daughters were smart, they were still only three and a half years old. They were a little too young to learn what made boy cats and girl cats different. Thinking on her feet, Felicity came up with an answer.

“That’s his tail silly.”

“No, that’s his tail. What’s that other thing?” Sara repeated.

Thankfully, by this point, Oscar had put his leg down and his penis was no longer visible. “I didn’t see anything else.”


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity makes a surprising discovery about Robert's notebook, which leads to learning something much worse.

With the Huntress on the run, Felicity could turn her attention back to the real matter at hand: Moira and Malcolm. She knew Oliver’s family and Tommy’s had been friends for years. It wouldn’t be odd for Robert and Moira to have invested in a few of the same opportunities as Malcolm Merlyn over the years. The crossover she’d found, however, was more than just simple coincidence. One or two common investments over a five year period was understandable. For Malcolm and Moira, however, it seemed they were invested, or in some other way connected, to the same companies and shell corporations more often than not.

While Oliver believed that Felicity was getting a strange feeling from Merlyn, and he supposed the man could be up to something shady or nefarious, he wasn’t as ready to assume that it had was connected to his mother, the Undertaking or the Gambit being sabotaged. He tried to ask Felicity how sure she was that the crossover wasn’t a coincidence.

“Let’s see. Your mother invested in Tempest, Malcolm was also invested. Malcolm donated half a million dollars to a charity called Save the Glades which Moira is on the board of, along with a few other names in your father’s notebook. I haven’t been able to find a single scrap of evidence that proves any of the money that charity’s gotten has actually been given to the people its supposed to help. There are at least four other examples I found, with minimal looking, of them both being involved with shell corporations or shady companies.” She said.  “And that’s without even mentioning how often Moira’s called Malcolm in the last six months. That’s too much crossover for it to be a coincidence.”

“Okay,” he conceded, “so Tommy’s dad and my mom are both involved in something. Maybe this Undertaking she mentioned. How are we going to stop it?”

“We don’t even know what it is. I need to keep digging, you need to see if you can get any information out of your mom.”

“If she wouldn’t tell the Hood, she’s not gonna tell me.”

“No, maybe not, but you know her better than I do. If she was gonna hide something, where would she hide it? These things always leave a trail. I can’t find anything online, which means there’s a literal paper trail. Find it.”

 

Oliver and Felicity’s digging into Moira was halted when one of the less significant names on Robert’s list was kidnapped by another vigilante. The vigilante then killed the man on live television. Felicity kept her search running, but focused on trying to stop The Savoir, as he called himself, from killing more people. The Savoir killed several more people, including prosecutors, on live television. Felicity had managed to track his signal, but every time they reached the location, nothing was there or it suddenly moved. Just as she was trying to guess how he’d managed to send out a bogus signal, the Savior hacked the TV stations again. He had another person kidnapped. This time it was Roy, Thea’s boyfriend. Just as the broadcast started, Thea called Oliver frantic. She demanded that he somehow help Roy.

“I don’t know how we’re gonna do that. I can’t- he’s never where his location data says he is.” Felicity said.

“There’s gotta be something we missed. A reflection, a sound, something.” Digg said.

“That’s it. Both of you, go away. Well, not ‘go away’ but move away from me, please.” She said.

On Lian Yu, she managed to kill people who were coming to kill her more than once by being able to sense them before they got close enough to her to attack. She hoped that skill would work now. She closed her eyes and pressed “play” on the video of the first killing. She tuned out the victim’s pleading as best as she could. Then, she heard it. A rhythmic sound in the background. She played the other videos to test if the same sound was there. The sound could be heard in every recording. It was hard to hear at first, and it had to be an ambient noise based on how it could be heard underneath the pleading of the victims and the lecturing of the killer. The noise, the dark lighting in all of the videos, the fact that the location kept moving, it could only mean one thing. “The subway.”

“What?”

“He’s in the subway. He was where I said, just underground.” She clarified.

Oliver ran off to save Roy and managed to get to him in time to prevent his death. He did, however, have to kill the Savior in order to save Roy. Thankfully, Felicity jammed the signal so that the Savior’s death wasn’t televised.

 

After being rescued, Roy rushed to Queen Mansion because he needed to see Thea. They’d gotten into a big fight before he was kidnapped and he wanted to apologize for the way he acted. He came inside and Raise showed him to where Thea was. She was playing some made-up game with Shado and Sara.

“Roy, what are you doing here? I thought you’d be at home recovering.” She asked.

“I should be, but first, I needed to talk to you, about what I said.” Before he could get going, Sara and Shado both walked over to him and kicked him in the shins. “What was that for?”

“Being a meanie and trying to take things from Auntie Thea!”

“Stealing isn’t nice!”

“Roy looked helplessly at Thea, unsure of what to do or how to react. Thea was laughing her ass off at what had just happened.

 

Oliver came back to the lair to find Felicity staring despondently at the screen in front of her. On the screen was the drawing from inside his father’s notebook. “Why are you staring at that? You already know what the logo looks like.”

“It’s not a logo, and this isn’t from the inside of your father’s notebook.” She said. “It’s a map.”

“What?”

“This is the map of the subway stations running through the Glades. I knew it looked familiar.” She remarked. “The Undertaking has something to do with the Glades.”

“Do you know what it is yet? What they want to do?”

“If I did, I’d be holding your mother at arrow point right now.” She answered. “But it probably is a crazy revenge plot by Malcolm.”

“What makes you say that?”

“His wife was murdered during a mugging in the Glades. That’s a pretty good reason to want revenge and to destroy the area.”

“We don’t know that that’s what they’re planning.”

“And we don’t know that its not what they’re planning.” She rebutted. “Let’s see what Queen Consolidated’s files can tell me. Applied Sciences might be working on something dangerous.”

“Why do you think its QC? Why not Merlyn Global?” Oliver asked.

“Because every investment, every transaction I’ve found, Merlyn’s always at least one step removed. He’s not stupid. On paper, he’s only ever an investor or a contributor, he’s never directly involved with operations. It’s close enough to give him a voice, but far enough removed to give him deniability in case they get discovered.” She explained. “He’s not going to have his company’s name directly connected to whatever he’s doing.”

After some research, she realized whatever they were planning couldn’t come from Applied Sciences. The building hadn’t been up-and-running for very long. If the Gambit being sabotaged was connected to the Undertaking, and she believed it was, then she needed to look at projects that were started before the yacht sank. She didn’t just look at QC’s projects, she also looked at the projects being worked on or completed by every subsidiary of Queen Consolidated from past to present.

When she started looking at Unidac, she discovered something concerning. “Oh frack.”

“What is it?” Oliver asked.

“Unidac Industries. Remember the auction? Walter bought the company on behalf of QC, Deadshot tried to kill him, Digg got shot.”

“I remember.”

“Well, they have a number of very dangerous patents. Like an alternative energy source that could very easily be turned into a very powerful bomb. Or something called a Markov device, which according to the blueprints, can cause, or at least replicate the effects of, an earthquake.” She said. “And unlike a bomb, it wouldn’t raise too many questions.”

“What are you saying?”

“I think Tempest is gonna try to level the Glades.” She told him.


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity continues to dig and on the island Felicity and Oliver suffer a betrayal.

“I think Tempest is gonna try to level the Glades.” Felicity told Oliver.

“Let’s say that is their plan, and I’m not saying it is or that it isn’t, what would that do? What endgame would that accomplish?”  He countered.

“What are you two arguing about?” Digg asked them. Felicity had asked him to give her and Oliver some privacy while she told him what she discovered about the drawing in Robert’s notebook. He’d just walked into the room.

“I think Tempest is trying to level the Glades with an earthquake machine that’s being built by a Queen Consolidated subsidiary.” She said.

“Why would a company build an earthquake machine in the first place? What’s the non-evil reason for having one?” He wondered.

“The patent mentions that such a device could be useful for excavating. Or search and rescue if it can be made on a smaller scale.” She said. “It doesn’t matter. I think they’re going to level the Glades.”

“And I’m still wondering what the plan is for after the Glades are destroyed.” Oliver said.

“Maybe its some weird, twisted Noah’s Ark idea.” John suggested. “You completely destroy the Glades, with everything and everyone in it. Then, you can start over and rebuild the area the way you want to.”

“We need to find that machine.” Oliver said.

“And you need to get real answers out of your mother.” She countered.

“You know, this was a lot easier when we were trying to stop Fyers and not my mother.” He said.

“Then I’ll handle Moira and I’ll let you track down the machine.” She offered. She knew this couldn’t be easy for him. Moira was shady and was probably complicit in a number of deaths, but she was still his mother.

“No. My mother, my responsibility.” 

* * *

 

**Lian Yu- Five Years Ago**

Fyers finished explaining what had happened to his benefactor. He heard the woman scoff on the other end of the line. “Repeat what you just told me.”

“What part did you miss?”

“I didn’t “miss” any of it. But I’d like to know how years of planning is being thwarted by a lone Australian intelligence agent, a billionaire playboy castaway and some blonde girl.” She said. “Your men are supposed to be the best mercenaries money can buy, and you’re being beaten by them. And now, you’ve lost your leverage and the circuit board for the missile launcher has been destroyed.”

“It wasn’t destroyed, According to one of my men, the person who damaged it could, in theory, repair the damage. And it couldn’t have been Wilson or Queen.”

“The blonde girl, then. Do you know anything about her?” Waller asked curtly.

“When we first found Queen, before he knew what he’d walked into, he asked where Felicity was. I assume that’s her.”

“I guess you should get to work finding this Felicity then.” She said before hanging up. She told one of her agents to look into Felicity Smoak, suspecting the woman who was lost along with the Gambit had made it to the island.

Shado volunteered to teach Felicity and Oliver both how to shoot a bow. She knew it was only a matter of time before Fyers came looking for them, and wanted to be readt whenever he showed up. Slade was skeptical, saying that while Felicity was a good fighter, Oliver didn’t have the right personality for it. Shado ignored him and swore they’d both be excellent shots by sundown.

Felicity, already being good with firearms and throwing knives, picked things up a little quicker than Oliver, especially when it came to aiming. Still, Shado’s statement to Slade was right and by the time the trio made it back to the wrecked plane, Oliver could hit a target better than the average person.

They were about to eat when someone else stepped into the plane. They all turned to look, and saw Yao Fei standing there.

“Ba, you-.”

“Shado.” Felicity and Slade both said warningly. This didn’t feel right.

She ignored them and moved towards her father. “How did you escape?”

“I didn’t.”

Mercenaries stormed onto the plane, surrounding them.

“You son of a bitch!” Slade shouted, about to attack. A merc hit him across the face.

“Your time on this island is at an end.” He said.

They were disarmed and taken to a truck at gunpoint with their hands tied behind their backs. The mercenaries searched Shado, Oliver and Slade thoroughly, but not Felicity. After she dropped the knife in her hands, they just dragged her to the truck, believing she wasn’t a threat.

When they were getting her settled into the truck, she purposefully bumped into Oliver.

“It’s gonna be fine.” She whispered.

“What do you-?”

“Do you really think I only had one knife?” 

* * *

 

**Starling City- Present**

Felicity’s searches for the Markov device didn’t go quickly. After Unidac was purchased, QC had moved everything the company owned or was working on to different locations. Some projects went to the Applied Sciences building. Others were sent to a facility near Central City. Some wound up at the company headquarters. She left her searches running and went home with Oliver.

The next morning, the twins woke up and ran into their parents room. Felicity had maps and printouts spread out on the floor, all relating to the Glades and the Markov device. Maybe if she had everything in front of her, she could figure out where they were going to strike.

“Mommy, what are you doing?” Sara asked.

“Trying to solve a mystery.” She answered. This was useless. She didn’t even know for sure if the Markov device was even going to be used or not. “Daddy and I are trying to stop the bad men.”

“Are they the bad men who took Grandpa Walter?” Shado asked.

“I think they might be.” She said.

“Why don’t you find one and just ask?” Sara suggested. “You and Daddy can scare them and make them tell you.”

“I don’t know if that’ll work. The bad men don’t always fall for that.”

“Then be sneaky.” She said. “Make them think you’re on their side. I’m gonna go find Oscar.”

Sara left and Shado trailed after her.

Felicity sat there, on the ground, and thought about what her daughter had just said. Could it really be that easy to get Moira to talk? She supposed it was worth a shot. Oliver, having just gotten out of the shower, stepped into the room.

“Ok. What’s with the look?”

“Our daughters are geniuses.” She said. “I know how we can get answers from your mother.”


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity comes up with a great idea, Oscar goes to the vet and things on Lian Yu get interesting.

“Ok. What’s with the look?” Oliver asked Felicity as he stepped into their bedroom.

“Our daughters are geniuses.” She said. “I know how we can get answers from your mother.” She stood up and began gathering her things.

“Of course our girls are geniuses, they have you as a mother.” He said. “What’s the plan?”

“John and I are gonna kidnap you and your mom and then hurt you to give your mom incentive to tell us the truth.” She said as she walked out of the room.

“Yeah, that sounds- what?” He inquired as he followed her out of the room.

“To get answers, we’re gonna need to do some underhanded things. Tricking your mom into thinking we’re going to torture you will do that.” She said. “I don’t know what her motives are, but if she was gonna use her kids as a scapegoat a few weeks ago, she’ll probably do it a second time.” 

* * *

 

**Lian Yu-2008**

The ride from Slade’s crashed plane to Fyers’ camp felt like an eternity. Oliver and Shado both seemed confused by Yao Fei’s sudden betrayal, while Slade was pissed off at the man and Felicity paid attention to the route. If there was an opening, and she had a chance to run, she needed to be sure she took off in the right direction.

The group of four were taken off of the truck and dragged into a tent. Now almost completely alone with Yao Fei, Slade began screaming threats at the man for betraying them. He countered by saying that Fyers was going to bomb the forest to kill them, and he didn’t have a choice. As he was saying that, Fyers walked into the tent, with a smug smirk.

“How fitting, everyone united for the end.”

“The end of what? What is all of this for?” Oliver asked.

“If he didn’t tell you months ago, why would he tell you now?” Felicity asked.

“So nice to meet you, formally, Felicity.” Fyers said. He held a hand out and one of the mercenaries dropped a circuit board into it. “I’ll admit, you did your best to destroy this motherboard. None of my technicians could fix it.”

“Sounds like you should pack up and leave then.”

“We nearly did. then it occurred to me, the person who damaged this might be able to fix it.” Fyers said. One of the mercenaries cut the zipties off of Felicity’s hands. “You’re going to fix it for me.”

“Let’s say, hypothetically, that I don’t. Or that I can’t. What happens then?”

“I have no desire to hurt you, but I can’t fail my employer.” He said. The mercenary next to her pointed a gun at her head. “You’ve been smart so far, I like to think you’d prefer to live.”

“Fine.” She turned to the mercenary next to her. “Get that out of my face, your hands are twitchy.”

The merc backed up a little bit and Fyers led her over to a table with tools to repair the board. While she was doing that, one mercenary, who was seated in front of radio equipment, intercepted a transmission. He told a commercial aircraft to adjust its course so it would fly over Lian Yu.

“It’s a commercial airliner, Fyers. It’s not like it can land here.” Oliver pointed out.

“It won’t be landing anywhere, Mr. Queen. I’m going to destroy it.”

Felicity slammed her tools onto the table and turned to the mercenary standing over her. “Okay, you really need to get the hell away from me!”

“Dramatics will not-.”

“Oh, zip it!” She told Fyers. “I’m working with very delicate pieces here, and you’re making me do this under threat of death. I am stressed enough and your buddy here is really twitchy with a gun pointed at my head. If I have to worry about him accidentally shooting me, I can’t give your stupid circuit board my full attention. Do you have any idea what the margin for error is on me reconnecting these wires in the correct order? Have you even tried rewiring the internal processor on an Intel gen-6 before? It’s not easy.” She yelled. Most of what she just said was nonsense, but it was nonsense Fyers wasn’t knowledgable enough about to refute. She gestured to Oliver, Slade and Shado. “They’re the muscle, I’m the brains. He doesn’t need to be standing so close to me that I can smell is gross-ass breath. Also, buy some damn toothpaste.”

Fyers nodded to the mercenary, telling him to back up. He then gave Felicity an unimpressed look and motioned for her to get back to work. Fyers went back to explaining his master plan to the others, but as she sat down, Oliver saw Felicity smirk. Fyers was hired to destabilize the Chinese economy. He explained that he kept Yao Fei alive so that his employer had a clear scapegoat to blame the attack on and brought Shado for leverage. The group already knew this from Shado. Yao Feu agreed to take the fall to keep his daughter alive. As he was being escorted out, he passed Oliver a knife.

Fyers took the circuit board from Felicity and walked out of the tent to contact the person who hired him. With him gone, Felicity could put her plan in motion. She had an outburst to distract everyone while she removed a few wires from the radio next to her. The outburst also got the mercenaries to give her space, meaning if she attacked, they couldn’t stop her right away. Most importantly, during her yelling, and Fyers subsequent monologuing, the mercenary on the radio hadn’t noticed his gun wasn’t on the table any longer. Her grip on the soldering iron in her hand tightened. They made a mistake giving that to her.

“Can I say something, since I’m probably gonna die?” She said to the mercenary next to her.

“I don’t care, but what is it?” He said.

She took the iron and stabbed it into his hand. The iron tip itself was a temperature of over 300 degrees Celsius. “You really shouldn’t have given me a soldering iron.” She’d spoken quietly, and the man was in shock, so he didn’t yell out. The others knew something was up, but couldn’t see anything. She pulled the iron out of his hand, and hit him across the face. As another mercenary got close enough to see what was going on, Oliver finished cutting through his bond and rushed the man. Shado and Slade both stood up and Felicity used the knife she had hidden to cut their bonds. Then, the gunshots started.

* * *

  **Starling-Present**

Oliver was about to ask Felicity more questions when the twins ran over to him. “Oscar’s ready.” Sara said.

“Ready for what?”

“To go to the doctor. Mommy told me yesterday that he had to go today.” She said.

“No, she-.”

“Mommy said he needed to see the doctor.” Shado spoke up. “He’s in his special box.” She pointed to the pet carrier. Oliver could see the orange cat in there and he was howling about being trapped. “I don’t think he likes it in there.”

“He just doesn’t like going to the vet.” Oliver said with a sigh. “No one likes going to the doctor.”

“I do! Dr. Adams gives lollipops. Maybe Oscars doctor should do that too.” The preschooler said.

“I’ll suggest it when I take him. Why don’t you get in the car so Mommy can take you to daycare?”

“No, we wanna go with you and Oscar.” Sara insisted.

“Okay, but after he goes to the doctor, I’m taking you to daycare.”

The trip to the vet seemed to take forever. Oscar really didn’t like being in the pet carrier and wouldn’t stop howling. Sara and Shado kept asking why they couldn’t let him out, but he told them it wasn’t allowed. After a very tense ride, they got to the vet’s office and had to wait about fifteen minutes. Oscar was still causing a scene.

Eventually, they were called back to an exam room. The vet looked at his chart and noted that Oscar still needed two shots.

“Is there a sedative or something you can give him?” Oliver asked.

“I’m sure that’s not-.”

“Oscar can be a little grouchy and he doesn’t like shots.” He warned the woman. “He was feral before we got him and I don’t want him to bite or scratch you.”

“It’ll be fine.” She assured him before calling in a nurse to hold the cat while she gave him a shot.

As soon as the nurse came near the carrier, Oscar hissed. She opened the door and, using a towel, tried to grab him and hold him still. He swiped at her with his claws extended. Thankfully, the nurse was wearing thick gloves, probably designed for mean cats. She was able to hold him pretty still while the first shot was administered. Now, there was only one to go. When trying to scratch didn’t work, he howled and tried to bite her. She jolted back slightly, and Oscar ran off the table and jumped into the sink.

“Hiding in the sink won’t make things any different.” The vet said.

“You sure you don’t wanna give him a sedative?” Oliver asked.

“We’re halfway done, it won’t be needed.”

“Daddy, why’s Oscar in the sink? He doesn’t like water.” Sara said.

“He’s just being silly.”

 

Per Felicity’s plan, Oliver asked to have dinner with his mother that night alone. He told her there was something he wanted to tell her, something about Robert’s behavior right before the boat trip. Moira, both wanting to know and trying to protect her secret agreed. Oliver cited a late shipment coming to Verdant as the reason they needed to wait until 7:30 or 8:00 before they could go out to dinner. He and his mother were getting out of the car down the street from the restaurant when Felicity shot Moira and appeared to shoot Oliver with a tranq arrow.


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity finally get some answers from Moira.

Digg helped Felicity drag Oliver into the abandoned building where they were staging their “interrogation” of Moira. Moira had already been moved inside and tied to a chair.

“You know,” Felicity said with a grunt, “you didn’t need to make us carry you inside.”

“I’m unconscious, remember?” Oliver responded. “What if she woke up and saw me walking around? Then, this wouldn’t work. Besides, you owe me for that time with Ivo.”

“I was actually unconscious then, so it doesn’t count. And I’m not 200 pounds of pure muscle.” She said as she and Digg finally got Oliver situated in the chair and began tying him up.

“Watching you two fight is entertaining and all,” Digg said, “but can we focus please? Where are the twins anyway?”

“Shado and Sara said they wanted to hang out with Auntie Thea tonight. And Raisa’s supervising.”

They waited a few minutes and then Moira started to stir. Oliver pretended to be waking up from the tranquilizer as well. “Mom?” Moira looked up at him and tried to stand up before realizing she was tied to the chair. “Mom? Are you okay?”

“Oliver? We- we gotta get out of here.”

Felicity pressed the button that turned on her voice modulator. “Moira Queen, you have failed this city.” Digg, dressed as the Hood, stepped into the light on her left. He walked over to where Oliver was seated.

“Please, do not hurt my son.”

“Tell me what the Undertaking is and I won’t have to.” Digg responded. She didn’t answer, so Digg punched him in the face. “Tell me!”

“Please,” she begged, “leave my son alone.”

“What happened to the Queen’s Gambit? What is Tempest planning?” Artemis asked. “What is Malcolm Merlyn planning?”

“I can’t tell you! He’ll kill me, he’ll kill my family.”

“You should be worried about what we’ll do.” She said as Digg hit Oliver hard enough to knock his chair over.

“No! Malcolm is planning to level the Glades! He said so he can rebuild it so-. There’s a machine, it can cause an earthquake-.”

“Is that why you bought Unidac Industries?”

“Yes.”

“Where’s the device now?” Digg asked.

“It isn’t completed yet.”

“What happened to the Queen’s Gambit?” Felicity asked.

“Robert, he- he was working with Malcolm, he found out what he was going to do and changed his mind. Malcolm- to make sure the Undertaking happened he sabotaged the Gambit.”

“And you let him.”

“No, I- I didn’t know. It wasn’t until I found it that-.”

Felicity was tired of this whole charade. She also knew if she stayed in this building any longer, she might actually kill Moira. She pulled out a knife and walked towards Oliver. Moira began screaming that she’d told her everything, but Felicity only used it to cut Oliver’s ropes. Digg did the same thing to Moira’s. The Queen matriarch ran over to her son as Felicity and Digg made their escape.

“Oliver, I-.”

“Don’t.” He said, backing away from her.

“Please, I know what you must be thinking, sweetheart, but I never intended for this to happen. You know I would never willingly be a part of anything like this.”

“I don’t know anything anymore.” He said as he stood up. Moira was too shocked by his response to get up from the floor or stop him from limping away.

 

“You call that pulling your punches?” Oliver asked as he walked into the foundry.

“Don’t do that.” Felicity said. “Don’t pretend like you’re okay.”

“I’ll stop if you will.” He countered. “You were right, about everything. And instead of saying “I told you so” you’re just sitting there, typing away.”

“Actually, I’m hacking into Unidac Industries to see how far the Markov device is from being finished. Because if I don’t focus on this, I’ll go find your mother and put an arrow in her. I’m that angry right now. I’m also trying to get into Merlyn Global Group’s system to see what he plans to do with it after its done.”

“I thought the answer was obvious. He’s gonna turn it on and level the Glades.” John said.

“Yes, but we need to know more than that. Where’s he gonna use it, for one. He’s not just gonna put it in a random place. He’s too smart for that. It needs to be somewhere that it can do the most damage. He’s got a plan. He’s done research. The company files may be able to tell me what he figured out.”

“That’s- are you sure he’d go to all of that trouble?”

“He started planning this at least six years ago, possibly more. He went to the “trouble” of sabotaging the Queen’s Gambit. Figuring out the best place to install your doomsday device isn’t a stretch.” She said.

Felicity didn’t find an answer that night, but she left the searches running when she and Oliver left. They went back to the mansion. Moira tried to talk to Oliver, but he ignored her when she called his name. They found the twins asleep in bed when they got home.

“Thanks for not shooting my mother with an arrow.”

“I wouldn’t shoot her, I’d probably try to bash her face in though.”

“Felicity-.”

“I lost five years of my life, so did you. Your mother is working with the person who caused that to happen, which kinda makes her complicit in that. if I didn’t feel rage, it would mean there’s something wrong with me.” She said. “She’s your mother, you can’t reconcile that fact with how angry you are. I understand that, but I’m not gonna pretend like I’m okay with what she got involved with. The only good things that came from the Gambit sinking are asleep in front of us.”

“Speaking of which, their birthday is coming up soon.” Oliver said.

“I know, I was there. Thank god Shado was a med student.” Felicity was convinced, reasonably so, that the only reason she survived childbirth, and the twins were born at all, was because Shado had been in medical school when Fyers abducted her. “We don’t even know what date that was.”

“You did the math and determined they were born on March 19, 2009.”

“The Gambit sank on September 27, 2007. I went into labor 539 days later. Or that’s how long I think it was. It’s possible that on the raft, I lost track of time.”

“Let’s call March 19th then. Your math is always right.”

 

The next day, while the girls were at daycare, Oliver and Felicity were sparring in the foundry. An alert went off, telling them that someone had entered Verdant through the main entrance. Felicity looked on the monitor and saw that it was Tommy.

Oliver went upstairs to see why he was here. Since he had to reveal his identity to Tommy, his best friend had avoided him as much as possible.

“Hey.” Oliver said awkwardly.

“Hi, I- so, I think I finally processed everything, recent events. And I think you owe me some answers. You and Felicity both.”

“I can’t promise you’ll like the answers you get.” Oliver said.


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy gets some answers and Felicity remembers a pivotal moment in her life.

The next day, while the girls were at daycare, Oliver and Felicity were sparring in the foundry. An alert went off, telling them that someone had entered Verdant through the main entrance. Felicity looked on the monitor and saw that it was Tommy.

Oliver went upstairs to see why he was here. Since he had to reveal his identity to Tommy, his best friend had avoided him as much as possible.

“Hey.” Oliver said awkwardly.

“Hi, I- so, I think I finally processed everything, recent events. And I think you owe me some answers. You and Felicity both.”

“I can’t promise you’ll like the answers you get.” Oliver said. “Are you sure you really wanna know?”

“I’m sure.”

Oliver led Tommy down to the foundry. His friend remarked that he should’ve guessed Oliver built his lair underneath his nightclub and he was surprised he hadn’t figured it out before.

“To be fair, he did tell you it was flooded and you didn’t have a reason not to believe him.” Felicity pointed out. She took a seat in her computer chair and leaned back. “So, you want answers. What questions do you have?”

“I-.” Tommy started to say before realizing he didn’t know where to start. “I wanna know everything that happened while you two were gone.”

“No, you don’t. It would waste a lot of time and you’d know more than you needed to. More than you really want to know.”

“Fine. How’d you two learn how to do…that?” He gestured in the direction of the display of arrows.

“The island wasn’t uninhabited when we washed up there. We told you that already. There was a group of people there, they weren’t exactly friendly. There were two people who were trapped there, just like us.” Oliver said. “They taught me how to survive.”

“Taught you, but not Felicity?”

“My uncle’s an ex-SEAL. I knew enough. Slade and Shado helped teach me a little more.”

“Shado? As in-.”

“As in the woman we named one of the twins after, yes. Not only did she help us against the unfriendly forces, but the twins wouldn’t have survived if she hadn’t been there. She delivered them.” 

* * *

 

**Lian Yu- March 18, 2009**

Felicity let out a groan and doubled over. She’d decided months ago that being pregnant on a deserted island sucked. When she came to that conclusion, though, she still had a little bit of hope. She naively believed, somehow, that she wouldn’t have to give birth while stuck on Lian Yu. As another contraction hit her, she realized how wrong she was.

“What-? I don’t know what to do here. What do you need?” Oliver asked frantically.

“Get. Shado.” She said through clenched teeth. She grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and pulled his face closer to hers. “Now.”

Oliver sped out of the temple. No one quite knew why there was a temple on Lian Yu, but it was the safest place for Felicity to be when she was this heavily pregnant and this vulnerable. She shuddered to think about what might happen if Ivo had found her. For the last few weeks, Felicity had stayed in the temple while Shado, Slade and Oliver took turns traveling up the mountain to bring her supplies.

As she waited for Oliver to return, more contractions hit. As Shado walked into the building, with her arms full of medical supplies from Fyers’ raided camp, another one hit. Felicity felt a bunch of fluid trickle down her leg.

“What was that?”

“I believe your water just broke.” Shado said. “It’s almost time.”

“This can’t be happening.” She muttered.

“I’m afraid it is.” Shado began pulling out supplies and rearranging the furniture. “Slade and Sara are keeping an eye out for Fyers. I sent Oliver to fetch some water. I need you to focus.”

“I’m giving birth on a deserted island. I don’t- have you delivered a baby before?”

“Myself, no. but I have witnessed it countless times.” She said, trying to keep her calm. “This is the best we can do under the circumstances. You need to push.”

After what felt like days, Felicity heard Shado say she could see the head. Squeezing Oliver’s hand tighter, she gave another push and the baby was out. Crying filled the air. “It’s a girl.” Shado announced as she began cleaning off the infant.

Felicity was ready to go to sleep when another contraction hit. “I thought you said the baby was out?”

“She is.”

“Then why am I still having contractions?”

Shado handed the baby to Oliver before kneeling back down to look at Felicity’s womb. “I don’t want you to freak out, okay?”

“Any sentence that starts that way makes me want to.” She said. “But what is it?”

“I see another head.”

“Twins? I’m having twins?”

“Evidently.” She answered. She walked Felicity through delivery again, delivering another baby girl. Unlike her blonde older sister, the second twin had dark brown hair. Oliver held the babies as Shado helped get Felicity cleaned up. Shado went back down to the camp while Oliver stayed in the temple with Felicity.

“How long have I been in here?” The blonde asked.

“The sun’s starting to rise.”

“March 19th.”

“What?”

“I’ve- I keep track of how many days its been. If my math’s right, today is March 19th.” She said.

“Do you have any name ideas?” Oliver asked. “Because I don’t.”

“No, but I’m sure they’ll come to me.”

Two days later, Oliver arrived at the temple and told Felicity Slade had been injected with Mirakuru and Shado was dead.

“Shado, that’s a good name for a little girl, isn’t it?” She said once she stopped crying. The brunette twin began crying. Felicity picked her up and started rocking her back and forth. “I wanna name this one Shado, after her.”

“It’s perfect.” 

* * *

 

**Starling- Present**

Tommy, Oliver and Felicity talked for a little while longer. Both vigilantes knew he still had questions, but they were only willing to divulge so much at one time. He said he’d talk to them later before leaving.

“Do you think I should tell him about Hong Kong?”

“That’s your choice to make, but maybe not yet.” She said. “I don’t think he’s ready to hear that he was that close to bringing you home.”

“Should we at least tell him about Sara then?”

“No. If we tell him about her, he’s gonna tell Laurel. I told her I watched Sara die, because Dinah Lance thought she might still be alive and I didn’t want any of them to waste their time chasing ghosts. If anyone finds out she survived the Gambit sinking, they’re going to ask how we know she’s dead and I’d rather not explain that she drowned when the Amazo exploded.”


	38. Chapter 38

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Oliver look for a way to stop the Undertaking without bloodshed, and the twins' celebrate their birthday.

Two days after they told Tommy about Shado’s namesake and a few of the other things that happened on the island, Oliver and Felicity had yet to broach the subject of Malcolm with Tommy. They were both aware that Tommy, due to living with Malcolm, was the most likely person to notice any abnormal behavior. The delay was for two reasons: Oliver knew Tommy was conflicted about learning their secret and didn’t want to overwhelm him by throwing around accusations. The second reason was because Tommy and Malcolm weren’t exactly close, and hadn’t been close since Rebecca’s death. If Tommy spent as little time around his father as possible, it wasn’t likely he’d notice as much.

In the meantime, Oliver and Felicity continued crossing names off of Robert’s list. They weren’t huge, well-known names like Adam Hunt had been, but it kept them occupied while they were in this bizarre holding pattern with Tempest. A few days after Deadshot nearly killed Malcolm, one member of the List, Frank Chen, turned up dead, shot with black arrows. Oliver was surprised by this since Chen seemed like someone who would’ve been a part of Tempest.

“If the Dark Archer is part of Tempest, or is at least being paid by them, why would he kill one of the members?” He wondered aloud.

 

“Membership doesn’t guarantee safety. Your father’s proof of that.” Felicity reminded him. “Maybe Chen wanted to back out, or- no, that’s probably not it.”

“What’s not it?”

“Someone tried to kill Malcolm Merlyn. Shady groups like this, there tends to be a lot of in-fighting and backstabbing over who’s in charge. If movies have taught me anything, its that. Maybe he was the one who hired Deadshot.”

“And they killed him for it?”

“If someone tried to kill me, I’d try to kill them right back.” She said, before going back to typing. “Oh, frack. Frack!”

“What is it?” He asked, moving closer to her.

“This code, what I was doing, it was my last resort to hack into Merlyn Global Group and see what he’s up to.”

“So, we can’t get in to their system.” He stated.

“Not unless you wanna walk in through the front door, take the elevator to the 24th floor and sneak me into the secure server room so I can directly access the company files.”

“Maybe that’s not our only option.” He said. “We know what Malcolm’s planning on doing. We also know what company is making the earthquake device.”

“You wanna break in to Unidac Industries?”

“Who said anything about breaking in? Queen Consolidated owns the company. If I show up, they’ll probably give me a tour.” He pointed out. “And if you come with me, you can-.”

“Get into their files, find out everything there is to know about the Markov device, etc.” She finished. “Sounds like a plan.”

The next day, Oliver and Felicity went to Unidac’s headquarters in Starling. Oliver’s reason for showing up was telling some story about deciding to possibly become more involved in the running of Queen Consolidated and he believed touring the company’s different facilities was a good place to start. Felicity was there, or so he claimed, to explain anything he didn’t fully understand better. It was no secret that science wasn’t Oliver Queen’s forte. Fifteen minutes into the tour, Felicity’s phone rang, as they’d planned. She left to answer the call from “daycare” in the lobby, which meant she was close enough to hack into the company’s databases without anyone paying too much attention to her. Oliver continued on the tour, which helped him learn the layout of the building. The Markov device wasn’t one of the projects he was shown, but thanks to the in-depth visit, he had a pretty good idea where it was being held. The lead scientist led Oliver back out to the lobby, where Felicity was just getting off the phone.

“Everything okay?” He asked her.

“Yeah, the twins just had….a moment at daycare and wanted to talk to me.” She said. “We’re all good now.”

They left the building and on the drive back to the foundry, compared notes to what they found. Oliver knew where the device was. Felicity knew how it worked, and more importantly, how it could be disabled. It was possible they could stop the Undertaking without needing to confront Malcolm at all.

“We should break in and steal it.” She said suddenly. “If there’s no earthquake device, Malcolm can’t cause his fake earthquake.”

“He’d probably just order the Dark Archer to threaten the scientist to make another one.”

“He can’t do that if there’s no scientist to threaten.” She pointed out. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not saying we kill him, I’m saying we just…make him go away for a little bit. Yeah, you’re right. It’s dumb. The only way this is gonna end is with a fight. I’m really tired of fighting.”

“Me too.” Oliver said sympathetically. “But the device isn’t done yet, neither Malcolm or the Dark Archer have made a move yet, so there’s not a lot we can do. Except, of course, survive tomorrow.”

“It’s a birthday party for two four-year-olds, Oliver. It’s not a fight to the death.” Felicity said.

“Have you met our kids?” He countered.

 

The next day, Queen Mansion was a madhouse. Companies Moira had hired for catering and entertainment started showing up at 7am to get everything ready for a 2pm party. Felicity and Oliver both thought this was doing way too much for the twins birthdays, but when either tried to point that out, they were told that the party needed to make up for all of the missed birthdays while they were on the island.

Shado and Sara seemed equally confused, until Felicity sat both of them down and explained that today was the day they turned four and that people wanted to celebrate them turning four. She then needed to explain why they didn’t celebrate on the island. The twins didn’t seem very interested at first, until they learned there would be cake, candy and plenty of other sugar at the party and that it being their birthday meant they were going to get presents.

Around noon, Donna and Uncle Danny arrived. Danny quietly greeted everyone before going outside to help set things up. Donna, however, stormed into the house and began yelling.

“Where are my precious little nuggets?!”

Sara and Shado both walked over to say hi to their grandmother, who started kissing them over and over.

“Grandma, stop!” Sara said. “You’re getting lipstick on us.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just very excited. Its not everyday you turn four years old. You’re almost grown-ups!” She exclaimed.

The twins turned to face their parents. “Does that mean-?”

“No. You can’t go to grown-up parties yet.” Felicity said. She knew they wanted to ask for bows, since Felicity told them only adults could use bows and arrows, but didn’t want them to spill the beans.

“Being a kid stinks.” Shado said, crossing her arms.

“You’re gonna miss it, trust me.” Oliver remarked.

Donna took the twins outside, with the others following. Most of the twins friends from daycare arrived around two and the party began. Felicity stood off to the side and couldn’t help but think that this party was a kid’s dream. If she’d gotten a party like this as a kid, she would’ve thought she died and went to heaven. She also regretted the fact that this was the first real birthday the girls had ever had. It wasn’t rational for her to feel bad, the island wasn’t a place to celebrate, and she knew that, but it still hurt.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone approach her. Her grip on her plastic cup of lemonade tightened. She really didn’t want to talk, or look at, or acknowledge Moira’s existence right now. She’d gone out of her way to avoid being anywhere near Moira since she’d “kidnapped” her and Oliver.

“Felicity, I know Oliver-.”

“Not today.” She said bluntly. “One day, we’re going to have this conversation, and it’s not gonna be fun, but not today.”

“I want to-.”

“Not. Today.” She repeated. “Today, I get to pretend you don’t exist.” She walked away before Moira could respond.

Thankfully, Moira seemed to catch on to the fact that Felicity wanted to be nowhere near her, and spent the party at least ten yards away from the blonde. All of the kids ate way too much candy and were practically bouncing off of the walls by the time Donna announced they should open presents.

The twins got toys from the parents of most of their daycare friends. Melody’s parents gave them each art kits, since she’d told them that the twins liked drawing and coloring a lot. Thea, Moira, and Donna gave them clothes. Tommy gave them both teddy bears; Sara claimed the brown one while Shado decided she liked the black one. Danny gave them a camping kit, which nearly made Felicity burst into tears. Her uncle had gotten her something similar when she was a kid and seeing it reminded her of their camping trips, which helped her stay alive on the island. Finally, it was time for Oliver and Felicity’s presents. Oliver went into the house and came back holding a comically large box, which he put down in front of them.

Shado tentatively lifted the lid off of the box before letting out a loud yell. “Wow!”

“What is it?” Sara asked, taking a peek under the lid. “Cool!”

“Girls, why don’t you show everyone?” Felicity suggested.

Sara pulled the lid all of the way off of the box. Tiny barks could be heard coming from the box. Inside were two Husky puppies, who had seen the box opening and wanted to know what was going on. One puppy stood up on her back paws and licked Sara’s cheek.

“That tickles!” She exclaimed as Felicity picked the puppy up and handed it to her daughter.

Oliver handed the other puppy to Shado who began petting it very carefully. “You got us baby wolfs?”

“No, these aren’t wolves. They’re Husky puppies. They’re dogs but they look kinda like wolves.” He explained. “Mommy could probably explain it better.”

“But we can keep them?”

“Yes, you can.” He said. “What are you gonna name it?”

“Robbie.”

“I’m naming this one Spike.” Sara announced. She pet hers for a little while before a thought occurred to her. “Oscar needs to meet them so they can be friends!”

People began to depart. Staff started cleaning up the mess from the party. Sara and Shado disappeared inside with their puppies to find Oscar. Oliver and Felicity went with them, unsure of what the grumpy cat would do.

Oscar was in the twins playroom when they found him. As soon as the cat saw the puppies in their arms, he ran up the bookcase to get away from them.

“Why did he go up there?” Shado asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe Oscar’s just shy.” Her mother suggested.

 

That night, after the excitement from the party died down, Oliver walked into his and Felicity’s room and found her hunched over her tablet. She was biting her lip, which he knew she only did when she was nervous.

“What’s wrong?”

“We have a problem. Like, a huge one.”

“What is it?”

“I’m going over the files I copied from Unidac. I have more than what I need but-.”

“Felicity, what’s wrong?”

“They aren’t just making one device. I’m looking at orders for at least two.” She admitted. “We really need to get into his files.”

“So, let’s break in to Merlyn Global.”


End file.
